High Peak Transparency

Peace In Our Time. And Bins Collected As Well

2011-12-29T12:13:00.001Z

We can all finally sleep safely in our beds. Some High Peak Borough councillors have won a vote in favour of world peace.

At Chapel-en-le-Frith town hall, Cllrs Bob Mckeown and Graham Oakley tried to persuade other councillors that war is bad.

The grasp of physics was very poor however. Cllr Oakley told the assembled councillors that he was born in the 1950s and he could 'recall heightened tension - when a loud bang would go off in the neighbourhood. We'd gaze anxiously in the direction of Manchester looking for a mushroom cloud.'

The reality of a distant nuclear bomb explosion is that the sudden flash of light brighter than the sun reaches you far quicker than any sound waves. So the worrying loud bangs in the youthful Cllr Oakley's neighbourhood had some other cause.

'World Peace' was defined in strange way. It is the abolition of nuclear weapons that causes world peace, according to the logic of the promoters of this motion. By that logic, there have not been any wars in mankind's history, and there's been no end of nuclear wars on earth since the atom bomb was created in 1945.

Common sense at the council meeting was in vain however. Conservative Cllr John Haken's bizarre, strange, wild off the wall idea - that the Borough Council's priority should be to ensure that the local residents' bins are emptied and the streets properly cleaned etc - failed.

The High Peak Borough Council motion calling for no nuclear weapons - and certainly none in Chapel-en-le-Frith - was carried by 24 to 14, with 2 abstentions.

Andy and Dave, Part Two!

2011-12-01T12:54:00.001Z

For the second week in succession, our MP attracted the attention in parliament of either Conservative party managers or the Speaker. This week's perfectly proper and correct question to the Prime Minister, asked on 30 November:

Andrew Bingham MP:
The Prime Minister will know that I recently held a small businesses event in my constituency, and many of the businesses that attended complained bitterly about the red tape and bureaucracy that they have to jump through to deal with public bodies. What message can he send to these businesses, as we look to them to help rebuild the economy, about getting rid of some of this obstructive bureaucratic nonsense?

The Prime Minister:
My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise this subject. It is why we have introduced the red tape challenge, so that all these rules are published on line and businesses and individuals can tell us which ones can be scrapped without harming public safety. At the same time, we have the one-in, one-out rule so that Ministers cannot introduce a new regulation until they have scrapped an existing one. This Government are determined to scrap unnecessary regulation and to help small businesses to employ more people in our country.

Andrew Bingham and David Cameron have their work cut out: the last Labour government put in thirteen years of pointless interference and needlessly adding to the red tape burden and costs on families and business.

During that time the European Union (Hang on, when did we say we wanted to be in a Union rather than a community?) also issued Directive after pointless Directive to the people of this country.

it's not possible to clean all that up in a short time.

Andy and Dave

2011-11-25T10:37:00.001Z

Prime Minister's Questions provided a sign of Andrew Bingham's current rising star status in Parliament.

This week, the honour of asking the question that always kicks off proceedings fell to Mr Bingham.

For nonsensical ancient reasons, the first question from an MP is always required to be 'Will the Prime Minister list his official engagements for the day?'

After the Prime Minister has wasted time reading out a bland listing that has already been published , the tradition is that the MP then gets to ask a 'supplementary question'. It is this supplementary question that is the real one.

In this case, the question was urgent and topical, about local government workers going on strike at a time of high unemployment elsewhere in the economy and when only a small minority had voted in the pre-strike ballot.

"I think my honourable friend makes a very important point," said Dave, the Prime Minister.

Of course you do. That's why your party managers planted the question!

Local Hospice Charity Wants Your Vote

2011-09-27T16:50:00.000+01:00

PLEASE CAST YOUR VOTE (registration only takes 30 seconds!!)

Blythe House Hospice has been accepted into the Natwest Community Force scheme with the opportunity to win £6000 towards one of their new or ongoing projects. Their choice would be to invest any winnings into a much needed van to transport stock to their five charity shops in the High Peak area.

This investment would potentially result in a large increase in the shops' profit which would directly benefit the Hospice and all those within our community who use the services when at their most vulnerable.

Voting opens 26^th September through to 23^rd October.

Please vote by going to http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/1750

Or ring 0800 2100 246 (free phone from landlines) to cast your vote.

Please pass this information on to all friends, family, colleagues, long-lost relatives, professional footballers, politicians etc etc. Share it on facebook or tweet it on twitter – the more votes Blythe House Hospice gets, the more chance of winning!

Flouting The Law: Business As Usual For Dysfunctional Council

2011-05-17T17:39:00.016+01:00

The first statutory Annual Meeting of the newly elected town councillors in New Mills was held on the 16th of May 2011. The local elections had taken place on the 5th of May.

At this meeting it was shocking to see the local town clerk’s persistent and casual attitude to law breaking. The town clerk here is in charge of large amounts of public money, as well as effectively having care and custody of local councillors’ public reputation.

Here is how the law was flouted in this latest of a long series of law-breaking activities inside this town hall:

The legal structure

A Local Council comprises a Chairman and Councillors. It is a body corporate with perpetual succession and a name. A local council exists in the above form, and only in the above form, until permanently dissolved by one or other statutory mechanism.

The above legal structure applies to all town and parish councils in England. There are no exceptions.

No person can be a member of the council and also a paid clerk to the council at the same time (Local Government Act 1972, s116).

The roles of individuals under the relevant statutes

There permanently must be an elected Chairman or woman (‘Chair’). The duties of the Chair of the council are set out in law. To cover death or incapacity of the Chair, a vice-chair is elected at the same time.

The Chair must be a member of the Council (Local Government Act 1972, s15(1)).

The Chair of the council continues in office until succeeded in that office by another lawfully appointed councillor. This legal requirement applies even when the outgoing chair has not stood at the last local election.

If council proceedings at a first annual meeting after an election are opened with the paid clerk in the chair, that is illegal.

The latest activity in New Mills

So, in the case of the 2011 Annual Meeting of New Mills Town Council, who was the person specified in law to chair the meeting’s first business? Chantal Hannell, the outgoing Chair of the council.

Did the town clerk send the legally required written summons to the 16 May 2011 council meeting to Ms Hannell? No.

Did the town clerk invite Ms Hannell to the council’s statutory annual meeting in any other way? No.

Was Ms Hannell - who was there at the meeting in the public gallery - allowed by the town clerk to perform the duties that the law requires her to do? No.

Did the town clerk, Mrs Susan Stevens, take the role of Chair for the first business of the meeting? Yes. Completely unlawful.

Previous Form

See previous entries in High Peak Transparency for guidance to some of the other law-breaking and consistent past dishonesty behind closed doors inside this particular town hall.

Can vindictiveness or malicious intent be considered a reason for breaking the law whilst holding public office? More than one third party has reported that Cllr Alistair Stevens (the town clerk's husband) and Cllr Hannell had fallen out before this incident.

Councillors: who did what

In fairness to the newly appointed councillors, for whom the above was the first meeting they attended in their new role, these are: Alan Barrow (Labour); Andy Bowers, Gwyn Bowers, David Lamb(Conservative).

The returning councillors who took part in this meeting are Ian Huddlestone; Alistair Stevens; Lancelot Dowson; Janet Carter; Mark Gadd; Ray Atkins.

Cllr Tony Ashton did not attend, sending his apologies to the meeting.

Exclusive - Guilty Ones Named In Dysfunctional Council Scandal

2010-12-06T20:02:00.002Z

The recent official 'Dysfunctional Council' report highlighted a disturbing fact: many separate complaints have been made connected with New Mills town council, whereas none of the 18 other town and parish councils in the area have been the subject of a single complaint.

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Gang of Four

Further to pleas in the Buxton Advertiser and elsewhere, asking that the guilty ones be named, here is the league table:

Lancelot Edgar Dowson made 4 or 5 of the complaints. The motivation was mainly malicious or mischievous and all were against political opponents . All of his complaints were against LibDem councillors. Nominally 'independent' Cllr Dowson has in fact been a long-term Labour Party member.

Stephen Lewis made around 3 of the complaints. At least 2 complaints were against a tragically deceased councillor - a retired member of her Majesty's armed forces. Mr Lewis is employed by the New Mills town council.

Jacqui Gadd made 1 or 2 of the complaints. All were aimed at political opponents in the LibDem party. Cllr J Gadd is a Conservative, and personal friend of Lancelot Edgar Dowson.

Mark Gadd has been involved with at least 1 of the complaints, which was aimed at political opponents in the LibDem party. Cllr M Gadd is a Conservative, and personal friend of Lancelot Edgar Dowson and Stephen Lewis.

So far as can be established at the time of writing, the current councillors in New Mills who have not contributed to the dysfunction by occupying expensive Borough officer time and resources in the making of spurious and/or malicious complaints are (in alphabetical order): ASHTON, Tony (Conservative); ATKINS, Elizabeth (LibDem); ATKINS, Ray (LibDem); BODY, Hazel (Green); CARTER, Janet (LibDem); HANNELL, Chantal (Independent LibDem); HAWLEY, Kevin 'Huggy' (LibDem).

This report is a public interest document. A copy of it has been sent to every person who is named in it. This is in order to give them the full opportunity to point out any material omissions or errors, should any exist.

Here comes the science

The Pareto Principle is often also known as the 80:20 rule. In this case, it refers to the fact that about 80% of the problems tend to be caused by about 20% of the people.

Attempt To Gag Elected Representatives

2010-12-02T21:47:00.003Z

The new official Standing Orders of the town council in New Mills, High Peak, Derbyshire have just appeared on the council's website.

Electors and council taxpayers in the area will be shocked to read new Standing Order 26. It is completely undemocratic and anti-free speech.

Ignoring grammatical errors for a moment, the relevant extract reads:

"In accordance with the Council's policy in respect to dealing with the press and/or other media, councillors shall not, in their official capacity, provide oral or written statements or written articles to the press or other media."

For a councillor to give personal opinions to media outlets, provided that they make it clear they are 'councillor so-and-so' and do not purport to speak for the whole council, is part of the democratic process.

If a councillor has sensible and/or honest opinions, then it is important that we should know.

If their opinions reveal them as deceitful, or dishonest, or hypocritical, or plain old barking mad - or madder than Mad Jack McMad, winner of last year's Mr Mad competition - then it is even more important that we should know.

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Note: click on this link to dowload a copy of the document referred to in this report. In the event of any difficulty, email this site requesting a copy and it will be emailed.
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The Fantasy World Of Council Officer Stephen Lewis

2010-12-02T21:46:00.005Z

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A document has recently been prepared by New Mills town council employee Stephen Lewis.

His newly produced paper, called 'Draft Parks Strategy Targets', makes the following proposal for eliminating the conservation area status that currently protects the character of the town:

"Consider whether the town's conservation area is truly of benefit or whether it in fact denies both the town council and local business the opportunity to best promote the town.

"Seek to lessen the detrimental effects of conservation status on the activities of the town council..."

The above proposal is on page 5. On page 4 of the same document, Stephen Lewis proposes giving the public far more information about the activities of the town council. Hear hear to that. However, the reason that Stephen Lewis gives for doing this is to "counter act the negative blogging and criticism of certain members of the public."

The easiest and best way to counteract any 'negative' coverage of a public body is obvious. Simply stop making mad and bad decisions, and stop making mad and bad statements. Also, save money rather than wasting it on grandiose schemes and council employees' continued empire-building at public expense.

It really is that simple.
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Note: click on this link to dowload a copy of the document referred to in this report. In the event of any difficulty, email this site requesting a copy and it will be emailed.

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The Public Cost Of A Politician's Vanity

2010-11-26T14:11:00.003Z

Postman and Labour Borough Councillor Ian Huddlestone has just cost local taxpayers £2,500.

Following the sad and untimely death of LibDem councillor Glynn Jennings, there was a vacancy on New Mills town council in the East ward.

The usual way of selecting a new parish or town councillor in the event of death or resignation of a member, especially where there are full local elections coming up shortly as at present, is to put oneself forward to be co-opted as a new councillor. There is no cost when this method is used, and it is how Hazel Body and Julian Ashworth (among others) came to be town and parish councillors.

However Huddlestone, known as 'Postman Pat' by other councillors, insisted that a public ballot be held, with his name on it. The ballot took place yesterday. There was a tiny little turnout.

Despite the exorbitant cost of getting him on to the town council (again), in fact there are only three meetings of the full council from now to the next local elections, which take place next May.

Given the facts of Huddlestone's poor attendance record at the Borough Council, and his previous forced removal from office for non-attendance at that council's meetings, it is quite conceivable that the cost of Huddlestone's vanity will net out at a £2,500 cost per his attendance at council meetings in New Mills.

First Guilty Councillor Named In 'Dysfunctional Council' Scandal

2010-11-25T18:28:00.008Z

Local councillor Alistair Stevens has accused the Buxton Advertiser of 'lazy journalism' in the letters page of today's paper. One reason for this is that the BuxAd did not name and shame the dysfunctional councillors in the previous week's newspaper report.

The minority of dysfunctional councillors - plus a town council employee, Stephen Lewis - have used spurious and/or malicious complaints to the Standards Board as a way of causing problems for other councillors. The public money wasted by this is £6,250 so far in 2010 alone.

Not So Lazy Journalism

The first of the dysfunctional New Mills councillors to be named and shamed is Lancelot Edgar Dowson (pictured above as a tramp eating or possibly fondling a sandwich). The ridiculous nature of his activities can be shown by summarising just a few of his many malicious complaints:

Cllr Lancelot complained to the Standards Board about a LibDem councillor having a disabled concession on his car tax. The subsequent investigation (at public expense) established that the councillor was disabled and fully entitled to the concession.

Cllr Lancelot complained to the Standards Board about another LibDem councillor, who Cllr Lancelot stated knew about the 'fake' disabled concession. This complaint was also thrown out, but only after public money had been wasted as a result of Lancelot's activities.

Politician Cllr Lancelot also busily makes complaints about people who aren't councillors.

After Steve Sharp resigned from High Peak Borough Council and New Mills Town Council and no longer had anything to do with either body, HPBC's Monitoring Officer received a 'Standards' complaint about him from Cllr Lancelot.

Cllr Lancelot wrote and widely circulated an abusive email about High Peak Transparency's editor. He circulated the abusive email to his fellow councillors. When HPT's editor exercised his right of reply to the email, pointing out facts about Cllr Lancelot's past, Cllr Lancelot called the local police and falsely purported to them that he was being 'harrassed'. He had HPT's editor arrested and held in a police cell.

Cllr Lancelot was very careful to keep the existence of his abusive email secret from the police. When a printed copy of Cllr Lancelot's abusive email was taken to Buxton police station, the editor was released from custody immediately.
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Town's Council Slammed By Ethics Watchdog

2010-11-20T10:18:00.008Z

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A new and rare distinction has been bestowed on the small town of New Mills, High Peak, Derbyshire.

The occupants of its town hall have been branded 'dysfunctional' by an official report, published this week.

Of all the 18 town and parish councils in the High Peak area, none apart from New Mills has been the subject of a single complaint during the current year.

However, New Mills town council was the subject of 10 complaints about councillors' behaviour during the period.

In 2008 it was a similar story. There was a total of 4 complaints in High Peak's area, however 3 of these were against New Mills councillors.

As well as finally being officially named and shamed as dysfunctional, the report, compiled by High Peak's Head of Legal Services, found that in New Mills town hall there was an inability to set aside differences, or to debate out those differences, or to arrive at a common purpose of working together to further the business of the council.

A telling extract from the official report:

"The Standards Committee has been concerned at the apparent factionalisation of the council members and the consequent tit-for-tat nature of the complaints"

The report calculates that the taxpayer is estimated to have lost at least £6,250 in 2010, simply as a result of the cost of these complaints. High Peak Borough Council should deduct this money from the substantial grant money that it hands over to New Mills town council every year.

It is possibly relevant to note that the most prolific makers of spurious - and often malicious - complaints about councillors in New Mills, Stephen Lewis and Lance Dowson, have been in the habit of getting together in the Royal Oak pub with Conservative councillor Mark Gadd after Monday night's council and committee meetings have taken place.

So far as can be established at the time of writing, the following town councillors have acted broadly decently in this respect and have not taken part in the childish making of serial spurious complaints from New Mills town hall.

Therefore, the consequent damage to reputation and waste of public money cannot be laid at the door of these councillors:

ASHTON, Tony (Conservative)

ATKINS, Elizabeth (LibDem)

ATKINS, Ray (LibDem)

BODY, Hazel (Green)

CARTER, Janet (LibDem)

HANNELL, Chantal (LibDem)

HAWLEY, Kevin 'Huggy' (LibDem)

STEVENS, Alistair (LibDem) as is known, the following .
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Links to the report referred to in this article:

A copy of the report is available by going to this page of High Peak Borough Council's website. Once you are on the correct Borough Council page, click once on Item 5 in the 'Agenda Items' box on the right of the page. The report is then available for reading on-screen or for download to your computer.

In the event of any difficulties, email this site and a copy of the report will be sent as an email attachment.

Councillors' thumbs down to new games area for youngsters

2010-10-05T18:22:00.002+01:00

A new multi-use games area for young people has been worked on in New Mills.

Grass-roots community group Ollersett United Community Hub and the local County Councillor obtained the finance and put all the hard work in, on behalf of the youngsters.

The ideal location for the games area (one is pictured above) is Ollersett fields.

It is a very interesting fact that Ollersett fields was owned for many years by High Peak Borough Council. This large and valuable area of land was recently transferred into the name of New Mills Town council.

No money was paid to High Peak Borough Council for this extensive public asset.

The decision about the new games area was put before New Mills town council on Monday 2 August 2010. The councillors who voted down the new multi-use games facility for the youngsters of New Mills on that date are as follows:

ASHTON, Anthony. Conservative

CARTER, Janet. Liberal Democrat

DOWSON, Lancelot. Independent

GADD, Jacqui. Conservative

GADD, Mark. Conservative

HANNELL, Chantal. Liberal Democrat

The following are the members who voted for the youngsters of the town to have the new facility:

ATKINS, Ray. Liberal Democrat

BODY, Hazel. Green Party

HAWLEY, Huggy. Liberal Democrat

JENNINGS, Glynn. Liberal Democrat

There were two council members who were not present during the relevant part of the meeting:

ATKINS, Beth. Liberal Democrat. Cllr Beth Atkins is also County Councillor and had put a lot of work in to get all the financing in place etc. She was and is strongly in support of the new games area but felt she would be liable to accusations of a 'conflict of interest' under the current rules governing council meetings so was unable to vote on it.

STEVENS, Alistair. Liberal Democrat. On holiday.

The New Member Of Parliament

2010-08-03T17:30:00.005+01:00

Yesterday evening the meeting of New Mills Town Council was about to start and the local MP, Andrew Bingham, walked in.

He already knew some of the people there, made the relevant greetings and pleasant chat, then took his seat as another anonymous face in the public gallery of this particular council chamber.

Whether by luck or judgement Mr Bingham came on a relatively calm evening: during the public part of the meeting there were no calls to sack anyone or take public money to pay legal bills for councillors or throw out any member of the public etc.

Cllr Lance Dowson still sometimes has difficulty realising that he is no longer chairman of this council but the actual chair, Cllr Chantal Hannell, moved things along briskly, fairly and efficiently.

The clerk to this meeting was Mike Crompton, borrowed from neighbouring Hayfield. He spoke quietly, intelligently and respectfully.

The founders of the United States of America managed to do a complete Constitution on two or three pages. By the time this town council got to page 111 of the documents enclosed with their agenda for this particular evening - yes, that is Page One Hundred And Eleven - and Mr Bingham was still present, it became clear that he deserves a medal for voluntarily remaining and observing.

As the hour grew late it would have been very easy for him to leave - some members of the public already had - but Mr Bingham stayed and saw the whole thing right up to the now all-too-familiar exclusion of the public by the passing of yet another special resolution.

Several of these councillors (not all) appear to have great difficulty accepting that it is the public's money they are spending.

Regarding our parliamentary representative there will of course be plenty of debate, comment and criticism on some matters - that is the nature of politics - but at this stage of his parliamentary career Andrew Bingham MP cannot be faulted on his work ethic or diligence.

The High Peak One

2010-07-13T08:10:00.008+01:00

For most of society, obeying the law is a normal thing, indeed a necessity.

However, where some denizens of the New Mills town hall are concerned, the statutory rights of electors and members of the public under the law are merely seen as 'an added complication'.

That is the actual description - 'an added complication' - in the latest legal advice just sent to New Mills councillors about their unlawful ban on a local elector. This ban on the elector from attending public meetings is meant to apply if a particular member of council staff has also come along to that meeting.

This news is so hot off the press that even some councillors will not have seen it before its publication on High Peak Transparency. They have therefore not yet had a chance to decide between doing the right thing and promptly making a gracious apology over this aspect, or trying to continue with the attempt at a ban.

In line with the virtually identical North Tyneside case, we'll call our wronged local elector Tim Burgess 'Mr B' from now on. Or possibly 'The High Peak One'.

Here is the current advice in this matter from the town council lawyers to the good Burghers of New Mills:

If Tim Burgess, oops ' Mr B', comes to a statutory public meeting at which 'Mr L' happens to also have come along, then (in summary):

- Mr B's presence there should be noted and he should be reminded of the letter that he signed;

- Mr B should be formally invited to leave the public meeting;

- If Mr B refuses to leave the public meeting then he should be informed that his breach of the undertakings in the letter will be notified to the town council's solicitors with a request that further legal action be taken against Mr B.

The town council's solicitor is then described as acknowledging that the elector's right to attend public town council meetings as being 'an added complication' (!)

It is not 'an added complication'. It is the law.
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The Town Hall Law Breakers - Part Three

2010-07-10T08:46:00.015+01:00

An important legal authority has been published which is relevant to the current local case in which some High Peak councillors believe they can prevent an elector from attending public meetings if a particular town hall employee has come along to the meeting.

It is headed 'North Tyneside guilty of maladministration after barring resident from meetings'.

The report was carried by Local Government Lawyer on 27 May 2010. Here are the relevant extracts:

The Local Government Ombudsman has found North Tyneside Council guilty of maladministration after it barred a man from council meetings.

The Ombudsman, Anne Seex, recommended that the local authority train staff on the public’s right to attend meetings and established public law principles in relation to administrative decision-making.

Mr H’s relationship with various representatives of the council was described as “fractious”. He had written frequently to officers using aggressive and personally offensive language, and his written communications – both with the council and with the Ombudsman – were “characterised by extravagantly unpleasant allegations of improper motives and conspiracies”.

In June 2007, the council’s former head of legal and democratic services decided that staff should not engage with him in telephone conversations due to his behaviour and that he should write only to two, named officers.

Further incidents between Mr H and council officers followed, including an altercation with a caretaker at a council meeting in March 2008 that saw both sides accuse the other of assault.

In October 2008, the council’s Strategic Director of Organisational Improvement reviewed the documentation and decided to bar Mr H from attending meetings of the council, its committees, sub-committees and panels. This was recorded as being on the basis that the council “has an overriding duty to protect the health and safety of its staff”.

Mr H was also informed that if he attempted to attend any meetings, council staff would call the police to have him removed and would begin proceedings to get an injunction against him.

In November 2009, the council rescinded the restrictions on Mr H. Mr H had, however, already complained about the matter to the Ombudsman.

The law says that council meetings must be open to the public unless confidential or certain other information is to be discussed. Councils do, though, have the power to exclude someone from a meeting to suppress or prevent disorderly conduct.

The Ombudsman’s investigation found that the Strategic Director for Organisational Improvement did not have the delegated authority to make the decision.

Seex also pointed out that the legal department’s advice was written several days after the decision, strongly indicating that all relevant information was not properly considered at the time, including Mr H’s statutory right to attend meetings, the case law on excluding someone to prevent disorder and whether barring Mr H was a reasonable and proportionate response to the circumstances.

Ruling that North Tyneside was guilty of maladministration, the Ombudsman said the council’s threat to call the police and begin legal proceedings caused Mr H stress and anxiety.

Seex said: “The maladministration would not have occurred if the officers involved had considered and applied the established public law principles for administrative decision making and I recommend that these should be brought to the attention of all appropriate officers.”

She said the council should issue an apology to Mr H, including for any anxiety caused to him.

A spokeswoman for North Tyneside Council said it accepted that appropriate procedures were not followed.

She said: “The law says the council must be open to the public unless confidential or certain other information is to be discussed. We actively aim to do that and only in exceptional cases would we seek to limit a person’s access to the council.

“All appropriate officers of the council will be reminded of the public’s right to attend open meetings and of the legal requirements that must be considered to prevent this being repeated in the future. However, when the public do attend meetings, it is their responsibility to behave appropriately.”

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The link to the case reported in Local Government Lawyer is here
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The Town Hall Law Breakers - Part Two

2010-07-09T18:54:00.007+01:00

It seems there is nothing new under the sun.

In a very spooky prequel to the recent Transparency article about the statutory right of members of the public to attend meetings of public bodies, a council has been ordered to apologise to a member of the public and immediately lift the same kind of attempted ban.

Here is the relevant link: http://menmedia.co.uk/news/s/1128801_sorry_council_lifts_oaps_ban

For those who can't be bothered with links, here is the text. The report is from the Manchester Evening News of 29 July 2009:

OLDHAM Council has been made to apologise to a ‘disruptive’ pensioner for banning him from public meetings.

Warren Bates was accused of intimidating behaviour at Failsworth Area Committee meetings, and of continually refusing to respect requests to control himself.

He was banned from the meetings for six months, in what is believed to be the first order of its kind in the country.

The council even hired bouncers to keep the 71-year-old out.

Mr Bates, from Stanhope Way, Failsworth, complained to the Local Government Ombudsman, and an investigation has found that the council unfairly banned him and failed to allow him to respond to the allegations.

Investigator Anthony Wall has ordered the council to apologise and revoke the ban, and keep an accurate record of public meetings. Mr Bates said he was pleased with the outcome.

"Speaking as a pensioner I am surprised that the council, with a policy of openness and transparency and listening to the public, behaved in this way," he said.

"I tried to follow the processes available to me but they ignored me.

"I feel they have really let me down."

Mr Bates was banned on March 6 following a meeting between councillors, the acting borough solicitor for the council, and the neighbourhood manager, who also considered imposing an injunction or anti-social behaviour order.

Mr Bates, who has stood in past elections for the Green Party, wrote back to the council accepting the decision, but questioned why he wasn’t allowed to defend himself against the claims.

Emma Alexander, Oldham Council’s executive director for performance, services and capacity said the council accepted the recommendations.

"We have already contacted Mr Bates confirming that he can now attend public meetings," she said.

"We will also be responding soon with a written apology, as recommended by the ombudsman."

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High Peak Borough Councillors

2010-07-04T10:00:00.021+01:00

This is the latest update covering honesty and probity issues raised in two earlier High Peak Transparency articles. To get the picture question out of the way first, the above is High Peak Borough Council's civic heraldry. Motto translation: 'Ever in the public interest'.

Here are the links to the earlier articles:

http://highpeaktransparency.blogspot.com/2010/04/conservatives-back-cover-up-over-land.html

http://highpeaktransparency.blogspot.com/2010/04/council-leader-and-finance-officer-flee.html
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At this year's statutory annual town meeting in New Mills, the outgoing chair of the town council, Huggy Hawley (LibDem), made a promise. He said that the town council would discuss the various serious outstanding matters in a town council meeting, and that it would do so in public.

However the town clerk of New Mills, Mrs Susan Stevens, has - to date - put the matters in the part of the agenda that is dealt with behind closed doors. The particular town council meeting at which she did this was on 28 June 2010. The public were excluded from the council chamber when this matter came up. For the moment, while very specific legal billing etc questions are under live discussion and consideration, the town council is entitled to do this. Later on, it will be a different story.

Mrs Stevens is the central figure so far as two current elements of the wrong-doing are concerned. These are: using town council stationery to write a letter to mislead the councillors of New Mills; and offering to use public money to pay legal bills for third parties.

The third parties include a person who is a member of the town council and at least one person who is not a member of the council.

There are additional areas of serious concern inside this town hall, but the above two are the ones that are the subject of this article.

This week, the town clerk has sent out a letter that appears to be trying to distinguish between the standards of conduct in her personal life, and her standards of conduct when she is doing things as the town clerk of New Mills. One obvious implication of such a statement is that honesty, when dealing with other people, has an on/off switch.

Here is how the various High Peak Borough Councillors currently involved with this matter have performed so far:

The Liberal Democrat group on the town council is chaired by Cllr Ray Atkins. He wants all of the facts to be obtained and the position fully understood. This is so obviously the correct approach that it should not be in any way controversial.

Cllr Tony Ashton represents the Conservative Party, which was dragged into the matter by being asked, in effect, to approve a spending fait accompli during the secret part of the town council meeting in April. Along with Cllr Huggy Hawley (LibDem) he wanted the legal time sheet sending back, to try to get the billing reduced.

Cllr Ashton has had at least one conversation with a central figure in these matters, Labour’s Ian Huddlestone, to try to get further details. Whether Borough Cllr Huddlestone attempts to pull the wool over his eyes is another matter, and whether Cllr Ashton on behalf of the Conservative Party does anything about the state of affairs that is revealed remains to be seen, but for the moment it can at least be said that Cllr Ashton has taken the trouble and the time to ask questions.

At the moment, the above two seem to represent the mainstream. Next, two other councillors. Like in Life Of Brian, it seems there is a risk of 'splitters':

High Peak Borough Councillor Janet Carter, in an email seen by High Peak Transparency, gave her view of the dishonesty in public life that has been revealed:

“I suggest we just ignore it.”

Finally, not a councillor at Borough level but one at town council level. Cllr Alistair Stevens has finally revealed his true colours. When this politician was asked by another councillor whether he had had time to digest the issues that have been raised, his email reply was:

“Digested and excreted

Why would we do anything about this?????

Done and dusted via court case a few years ago, why would we get involved with this dispute other than protect staff and previous council members???”

Cllr Alistair Stevens is a politician who stood for election as the High Peak’s Member of Parliament. In his election literature he said he was ‘a man of principle’. In a conversation with Transparency’s editor he said he was ‘an honest man’. Judging from the facts known so far about this matter, it is fair comment to say that it seems the constituency may have had a narrow escape.

Cllr Alistair Stevens is closely connected to one of the council staff that he refers to in his email. He is married to Susan Stevens, whose activities while occupying public office - in the name of the town of New Mills - are now starting to come under proper scrutiny.

Note to those who have been very concerned to discover ‘a mole’ or similar. There is more than one public interest whistleblower in this matter. There are several people who have become extremely concerned and who have access to the various elements of this unfolding story.
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Parking Nonsense In High Peak, Derbyshire, England

2010-07-01T15:19:00.006+01:00

A video just uploaded to YouTube shows a very long and very empty street in a semi-rural market town. No traffic. No people. No activity.

But what's this? A man employed by a private parking enforcement company has seen an opportunity to boost income. He has just put tickets onto four cars, despite there being empty space for about fifty more cars. The reason it looks ridiculous? It IS ridiculous!

Many local traders are struggling because people no longer dare venture into the town in their cars.

Date of the event: 1st July 2010. Location: High Street, New Mills, High Peak, Derbyshire. The inaudible question on the soundtrack from the Parking Enforcement Officer as he approaches the camera is "Why are you videoing this?"

The whole sorry spectacle is on YouTube. Here is the current link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hww_6r14mBs

The Town Hall Law Breakers

2010-06-29T10:47:00.047+01:00

A member of the public was unlawfully excluded from a public meeting, so that a member of town council staff could be present.

High Peak Transparency can reveal the latest occasion that town hall staff have viewed their so-called 'rights' as being above the law that applies to the rest of us.

First, the law background. The relevant statute is the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960. Under Section 1, all meetings of public bodies, and bodies exercising public functions, must be open to the public. The public (not any individuals) may be excluded under the Act on certain very limited 'public interest' grounds, but if this happens it must be the public in general, and it can only be after a specific resolution is made - again in public - for that exclusion to take place.

The meeting at which the law was flouted was the New Mills Town Council meeting of 28 June 2010. At the appointed start time the members of the public were seated in the public gallery area of the council chamber, and the member of press was present (Emma Downes, Buxton Advertiser)

Bafflingly, there was no town clerk. Then the meeting's chair, Cllr Chantal Hannell went outside the council chamber to look for her. Next Stephen Lewis, who has responsibility for parks in the town etc, was called outside. Being very well brought up, Cllr Hannell used the expression 'Can I borrow you for a moment?'

In New Mills, High Peak, Derbyshire, things sometimes seem to be only ever one moment away from being bizarre. Because the next thing to happen was that all of the councillors were called outside the council chamber, and the members of the public were left in.

When they came back in Cllr Hannell, presumably speaking on behalf of the New Mills town council, then addressed an explanation to the public in general and some remarks to one member of the public in particular.

It transpires that the member of the public has agreed, in writing, not to be within 30 metres of Stephen Lewis. The pressure/threat of high potential legal costs was put on him to agree to this. The whole matter arose because of a long-running dispute, mainly in High Lea Park. To summarise, Stephen Lewis is broadly alleged to have broken off from the strimming to do a little light shouting now and then. The member of the public, Tim Burgess, and Stephen Lewis don't get on and there seem to have been fisticuffs. Mr Burgess shouted out a rude word and then, when challenged, said it was a description of a former Labour councillor.

Away from the soap opera and back in the council chamber, Cllr Hannell offered advice that the member of the public should leave the town council meeting. Clearly upset by this development, Mr Burgess volunteered to leave.

As this, in effect, was breaking the law, New Mills Town Council should offer an immediate apology and make it completely clear that Mr Burgess's statutory right under the law in respect of attendance at public meetings can never be curtailed by an agreement like this, made in private.

If any councillor is worried about the possibility of 'disturbance' at a town council meeting, and there has never been the remotest indication that such a thing might ever happen in this case, then there is a clear separate local government power immediately to remove any person causing a disturbance if they refuse to leave when they are instructed to do so.

By a strange irony, about halfway through the meeting a face appeared at the open window. It was like the ghost of Christmas past but not as good looking. Its owner, standing on Hall Street, was watching the proceedings of the town council. On seeing this, at least one councillor urged them to 'come in, it's a public meeting!'

High Peak Transparency is happy to make it clear that no Conservative members of the town council were present during the events before the meeting, described above.

This article has sequels:
The Town Hall Law Breakers - Part Two
The Town Hall Law Breakers - Part Three

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Bingham 'Not Slick' Shock

2010-06-19T09:30:00.003+01:00

Andrew Bingham MP's maiden speech has now been delivered. It was stammering and hesitant, read out from a frankly not brilliant script.

Mind you, what normal person wouldn't suffer performance anxiety in such a situation: Mr Bingham had been dreaming of, and planning and working for, the possibility of his crowning moment in the mother of parliaments for many, many years.

He spoke about the need for a bypass in the north of the constituency. However, this part of the speech was so equivocal that it seemed he didn't want to offend any part of either the pro- or anti- lobbies:

"In Glossop and Tintwistle, the Tintwistle bypass is an issue that has meandered on for many years. It was promised by my predecessor 13 years ago but has still to be built. It is a difficult issue. There are difficult environmental consequences to be considered but something needs to be done to alleviate the traffic difficulties suffocating Glossop. Tintwistle shudders and resounds to the thundering of wagons as they cross the Pennines. I know that money is tight and will be for some time, but if money becomes available a workable solution may be achieved."

The script did contain some lighter moments. Quite a few MPs laughed in recognition when Mr Bingham noted that the Royston Vasey location is within the constituency.

He pronounced Tintwistle as it is spelt on the page. Of course the locals call it Tinsel. However, one has to think of Hansard, which would have reported his homage to a Christmas decoration instead of a village.

Seige, Congestion And Pollution From Queues Of Stationary Vehicles: No End In Sight

2010-06-19T08:28:00.002+01:00

According to Hansard, our MP has now had the following written exchange in Parliament:

Andrew Bingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will prioritise funding for a solution to traffic congestion in Glossop and Tintwistle.

Norman Baker (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Regional and Local Transport), Transport; Lewes, Liberal Democrat):

"In his written ministerial statement to the House on 10 June 2010, Hansard, column 35WS, regarding major schemes the Secretary of State for Transport made it clear that the Department will not be able to identify those major investments that can be supported until the conclusion of the Government's spending review in the autumn.

Therefore at this time I am afraid that I cannot provide any assurances on funding for a solution to traffic congestion in Glossop and Tintwistle."

So basically, because of the spendaholic unstable vote-buying New Labour nutters, who printed and wasted vast amounts of money like no-one would ever have to pay it back, sensible necessary projects are cancelled or have to wait.

Rogue Apostrophe

2010-06-10T11:57:00.002+01:00

Slightly annoying to stumble upon a fellow local politics website, but then to find that (at the time of writing) there have been no posts on it since before the general election:
http://binghamwatch.blogspot.com/

While on the subject of our MP, two glaring grammatical errors are in his Buxton Advertiser column this week:

"Last week also saw the first Prime Ministers Question's (sic) of the new Parliament"

"Also along with many of the new MP's (sic) I still await an office..."

Andrew Bingham MP's predecessor Tom Levitt's columns were grammatically immaculate.

However, late in Mr Levitt's tenure it was revealed that in fact he didn't write the columns, but was getting a consultancy closely associated with the Labour Party to write them - paying the invoices using our money.

Given the antics of some other members of the last parliament (of all parties), probably better a couple of rogue apostrophes than a rogue MP.

Support Your Local Pub

2010-06-10T11:17:00.000+01:00

The Chairman of Buxton Pubwatch, Ken Howarth, complains bitterly (no pun intended) about High Peak Borough Council's spending on a giant screen for a handful of football matches.

The 20ft television and sound system will be put up in the Octagon Suite in Buxton, in an attempt to attract up to 500 people per match.

The majority of the screened matches have evening kick-offs, so this new giant system will damage or erode the hard-pressed High Peak pub trade and those whose livelihoods depend on it.

Buxton Pubwatch has therefore legitimately asked why taxpayers' money is being spent on this.

The Prime Minister, Speaking About The New Transparency Revolution

2010-06-03T07:21:00.003+01:00

The issue chosen for the very first prime ministerial podcast is...
Transparency.

Here are David Cameron's words on the subject, published this week:

"This coalition has started as we mean to go along; a government that saves money instead of wasting it; that trusts people who work in our public services, instead of dictating to them; and one that gives power away to people instead of taking it from them.

A big part of giving people more power is giving them more information. And this coming week, we’re going to be making a start on that.

If there’s one thing I’ve noticed since doing this job, it’s how all the information about government – the money it spends, where it spends it, the results it achieves – how so much of it is locked away in a vault marked sort of private for the eyes of ministers and officials only.

I think this is ridiculous. It’s your money, your government, you should know what’s going on.

So we’re going to rip off that cloak of secrecy and extend transparency as far and as wide as possible. By bringing information out into the open, you’ll be able to hold government and public services to account. You’ll be able to see how your taxes are being spent. Judge standards in your local schools and hospitals. Find out just how effective the police are at fighting crime in your community.

Now I think that’s going to do great things. It’s certainly going to save us money.

With a whole army of effective armchair auditors looking over the books, ministers in this government are not going to be able to get away with all the waste, the expensive vanity projects and pointless schemes that we’ve had in the past.

We saw what happened with MPs’ expenses once they were put online, out in the open. No one will ever be so free and easy with public money again.

But it’s not just about efficiency and saving money. I also think transparency can help us to re-build trust in our politics. One of the reasons people don’t trust politicians is because they think we’ve always got something to hide.

Well, by the time we’ve finished, there will be far fewer hiding places.

We’re making a start by publishing details of public spending over the past 12 months, information about hospital infections, and some of the salaries of senior officials in government.

They are just tiny, tiny steps down the road of transparency.

The first information we’re publishing won’t be perfect, it won’t always be in the most convenient format, and I’m sure there’ll be some mistakes. But I don’t want to hang around making sure everything is perfect – I want to get on with it, to make a start on this transparency revolution that we’re planning.

In time, I want our government to be one of the most open and transparent in the world.

We’re making a small start. But eventually, it’s going to make a big difference.

People will be the masters. Politicians the servants. And that’s the way it should be."
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The podcast, spoken by David Cameron personally, is available at the 10 Downing Street website

Freedom of Information

2010-06-01T11:45:00.008+01:00

Staffordshire County Council has decided to pay Nick Bell, its chief executive, £195,000 every year.

That is about £1,000 a week more than its Derbyshire County Council neighbour. The chief executive there is Nick Hodgson.

Simon Baker, who acts as chief executive to two councils, gets £151,000 a year. Each council pays half towards the cost, just under £76,000 per council. The two councils are Staffordshire Moorlands and High Peak Borough Council.

Supporting transparency, new prime minister David Cameron today pledged to 'rip the cloak of secrecy' from local government and other areas where ordinary taxpayers have suffered the costs of mismanagement and dishonesty in the past.

Mr Cameron is a Conservative, leading a coalition including the Liberal Democrat party, and the Freedom of Information Act was a Labour government measure.

The forces of transparency in public life continue to make good progress against the opposition.

Supporters of secrecy and wrongdoing - and confidential meetings behind closed doors in town halls - continue to be on the defensive. Some of them are having to try to devise new ways of stopping embarrassing facts and information from reaching the public. A simpler, easier and much cheaper way forward is just to be honest.
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72,000 People, No Desk

2010-05-27T11:20:00.005+01:00

Our new MP Andrew Bingham has started his weekly column in the local papers and already there is a noticeable difference from his predecessor Tom Levitt's efforts.

Mr Bingham represents about 72,000 people. That is the number of voters, including many people who pay tax, in the High Peak constituency.

Mr Bingham has tried to start work efficiently and effectively. There is no desk. Regarding the mother of parliaments, he says 'The sight of MPs working on their knees or in the cafeteria is not unusual.'

What kind of inept organisation has Mr Bingham walked into?

Mr Bingham has reported the situation honestly. Tom Levitt's newspaper column would probably have said that Labour was the party of no desks, the message of no desks must be carried far and wide, hard-working families were on the side of a no-desk policy, and that he for one was proud of the government's innovative no desks scheme.

Letter From A Well-Dressed Clown

2010-05-27T08:25:00.003+01:00

The letter from outgoing Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liam Byrne to his successor, written after 13 years of Labour rule, has become notorious:

"I am afraid to tell you that there's no money left."

This clown has form. When he made it to a new cabinet post in 2008, Liam Byrne's 11 page list of do's and don'ts for civil servants was called 'Working with Liam Byrne'. In it, Mr Liam Byrne declared:

"Coffee/Lunch. I'm addicted to coffee. I like a cappuccino when I come in, an espresso at 3pm and soup at 12.30-1pm.

"The room should be cleared before I arrive in the morning. I like the papers set out in the office before I get in. The white boards should be cleared.

"If I see things that are not of acceptable quality, I will blame you."

Mr Liam Byrne, 40, even dictates what font size briefing notes should be in, and insists that they should take up no more than one sheet of paper.

Mr Liam Byrne also warns the staff: "Never put anything to me unless you understand it and can explain it to me in 60 seconds," and he goes on: "I am often not very clear or my writing is illegible. If I'm in the middle of thinking about something, I might ask you to come back – don't be put off by this."

Mr Liam Byrne also displays a near obsession with manipulating the media:

"We need to produce a grid . . . outlining [the] story of the week. Once something has been slotted into a grid, my expectation is it will be delivered. Moving something from a grid slot is a very, very big deal."

Mr Liam Byrne says he has an "open door" policy – but it is hard to know when civil servants could see him. "It's your job to keep me to time. It's rude for me to draw meetings to a close. I like 10 minute then 5 minute warnings. You need to know what I'm doing next."

Contacting Mr Liam Byrne out of hours is not easy. "BlackBerry best. Fax to constituency office/home if not urgent. Never rely on me looking at text/email."

Trespass Man

2010-05-18T10:05:00.008+01:00

'Harnessing an event of the past to boost yourself in the present.' That is a chapter in the Politician's Book of Tricks.

When the world war was over, the new government of 1945-1951 created National Parks on the American and Swedish models. The modernising of British society, following defeat of fascism in Europe and militarism in the far east, was inevitable. A National Health Service and bringing the Bank of England under public ownership were main policies towards this objective.

On a recent visit to this area Labour leadership candidate David Miliband (above right) unwisely joined in with a couple of local Labour politicians who were harnessing an event in the past to boost themselves in the present. This was a so-called 'mass trespass' which had happened one day long ago.

The politicians were trying to claim that this day out on the local hills in 1932 is the reason we have national parks. It would be just as realistic to say that Hitler is the reason we have a motorway system.

Anyway, there is now a picture in the public domain of current Labour Party leadership contender David Miliband holding a poster that appears to encourage trespassers and trespassing.

The Door

2010-05-10T18:40:00.003+01:00

"Knock knock"

"Who's there?"

"Gordon"

"Gordon who?"

"A week's a long time in politics"

My Vote Is Worth Considerably More Than Yours

2010-05-10T11:00:00.002+01:00

It's not just here in England that electors and taxpayers are short-changed at the polling booth by a mad electoral system. Californian Steve Chessin's elevator pitch in support of Fair Votes goes along the following lines:

The principle of Proportional Representation is this:

majority rule, with representation for the electoral minority.

Power is allocated in proportion to the way people vote:

60% of the vote gets you 60% of the seats, not all of them;

and 20% of the vote gets you 20% of the seats, not none of them.

There are two key ingredients to PR:

you have to elect more than one person from a district, and;

you have to allocate the winners in proportion to the vote.

Round-up

2010-05-09T10:30:00.005+01:00

As the three Leaders continue fluttering their eyelashes at each other, a few of the points that have emerged from last Thursday's general election:

Fair Votes. This is the new name for proportional representation. No reform of our rotten, utterly discredited politics will get far if a person's vote in one constituency continues to be worth substantially less than a person's vote in a different constituency. That is the ridiculous situation under 'First past the post'.

Doors slamming shut on queues of people who want to cast their vote but aren't able to. The UK needs an Electoral Commission that runs elections, not one that issues unclear guidance to harassed local government officers. It should employ election staff directly, and its chief executive must be answerable for future foul-ups.

Private financier Lord Ashcroft, nicknamed 'Blofeld' in Conservative Central Office, is reportedly furious with David Cameron. As in "Big Society? What the **** are you talking about?"

Speaking of the good Lord, we can't have a national political system where a party with wealthy backers only needs to target the few hundred votes that matter: the ones in the marginal constituencies. This is a clear sign that the English political system is rotten and that reform is necessary.

Women represent about 65% of the workforce (not always waged) and about 20% of the members of the new Parliament.

The Liberal Democrat campaign took gracefully to the air early on, due to the power of television. Until scrutiny was given to a policy of rewarding illegal immigrants with an amnesty and various rights and entitlements. Good luck with selling that policy to law-abiding citizens.

Go Back To Your Constituencies - And Prepare For Transparency!

2010-05-07T16:32:00.003+01:00

The election results are known and Andrew Russell Bingham (Conservative) and Janet Maria Carter (Liberal Democrat) are the winners in this area. One of the Independent candidates can go back to watching Loose Women in his underpants while eating Rice Krispies out of the packet.

This site is a part of the phenomenon of 'citizen journalism with the goal of improving standards and honesty in public life'.

Two things have come together to create this major recent improvement to the democratic process in England: the dramatic, shocking exposure of the systematic long-term abuse of parliamentary expenses; and the continuing spread and reach of the internet.

It is the public - through tax - that pays for the things that political parties do.

It is the public that would pay the price for everything that political parties promise, if the promises are kept.

The open exchange of information has a positive impact on the world. Transparency in public life leads to honesty.

Transparency is not a party political thing. That is, unless the party in question supports the concealment or suppression of information that the public is entitled to. If a politician or public employee does so, then a political party that supports the concealment - or covers up on their behalf - justifiably has to take the consequences.

UKIP Shame

2010-05-03T18:58:00.000+01:00

One of the Parliamentary candidates called at Transparency's editor's home about another matter and during the conversation a fact was revealed that will disappoint all well-wishers of the UK Independence Party.

The Parliamentary candidate in question has personally attended several hustings in the High Peak constituency and many meetings relating directly to this current general election. In spite of all this, s/he has never once met the UKIP candidate.

There are now only two full days left until polling day. So is this particular UKIP representative - Sheila Hall - in reality an undercover Conservative? Or could she possibly have been a kidnapping victim on the way to the Tesco cooked meats counter by one of Andrew Bingham's faithful retainers, perhaps without Andrew's knowledge?

The serious electoral point is that only the Conservative Party benefits from the disappearance of a UKIP competitor.

High Peak Transparency would be grateful for any reported sightings of Sheila Hall, UKIP's Parliamentary Candidate for the High Peak constituency.

General Election Form Guide - Update

2010-04-29T10:51:00.014+01:00

This is an update to the original early guide, now that all the candidates are known. There have been two additions to the general election list for the High Peak constituency, both standing under the ‘independent’ banner.
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Tony Alves

What have Joanna Lumley, Cliff Richard, Paddy Ashdown and Spike Milligan got in common? Indian!

Tony Alves, also born in India, joined the electoral list at the last minute. He claims to be a ‘Newmillian’. This is because he’s lived there for all of 12 years. Just try telling the locals that ‘12 years’ is the qualification period: some of them don’t know the Urban District Council has been abolished.

Slightly disturbing that he claims to know about finance yet states in his literature ‘the selling of our gold reserves at a fairly low yield’ when the correct term is price. (‘Yield’ has a specific meaning in investment terms).

States that the reason for his late entry is ‘total disillusionment’ with the political system of this country on a number of counts. Well don’t stand on one leg while you’re in that queue.

Seems to have his heart in the right place, and as the foreword to Local Council Administration puts it, here’s to ‘The knowledgeable amateur without whom democracy is impossible’.
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Lance Dowson

There are only good points to this politician's candidature for the Houses of Parliament. There is a rich, rich background here that could only be done justice with the help of specialist literature.

Fiercely critical of voters, this politican has even taken one of them to the Standards Board (Stephen Sharp, who resigned as a High Peak councillor on 3 March, only for the council to receive a long and spiteful complaint about him from Lance Dowson on the 8th of March).

In another brush with a voter, he had the voter arrested on a trumped-up charge of ‘harassment’. The voter was released when an abusive email sent from Lance Dowson’s computer was taken to the police station.*

Politician Lance used to be an acting extra, and sightings in TV productions like Hollyoaks have been reported. People in the public area at town council meetings have also benefited from Lance's performance art, with mild facial gurning or expressions of shocked disbelief to the gallery being a speciality. This is strictly during those very rare interludes in council meetings when he is not speaking or trying to attract the Chair's attention because he is not speaking.

When not wasting valuable police time or acting, politician Lance has other interests that he mentions in his election literature.

The first one is a helpline for battered men.

He also refers to the cosmetic surgery helpline that he runs, for yet more ‘victims’. This time it’s boob jobs and implants etc, etc. Any complainant should present their cleavage, and Cllr Dowson will look into it.

* A print of the email was taken to Buxton police station, 12 August 2008. It had been concealed from the police by politician Lance Dowson, in order that an arrest of a member of the public would be made at his request. The arrested person was released from custody instantly when the email (which had been sent from Cllr Dowson's personal computer) was presented to the Crown Prosecution Service

Council Leader and Finance Officer Flee Public Scrutiny at Town Meeting

2010-04-28T13:02:00.019+01:00

Uproar at the Annual Town Meeting of New Mills.

This year’s statutory town meeting was held on Monday 26 April. It was very well attended in the large public hall, with all age groups represented including a great turn-out of youngsters.

The meeting made its placid progress through all the things that the local electors are concerned about. But then, after about 25 minutes, an innocent set of questions was asked that produced an extraordinary and very curious result.

The member of the public who put the questions was distinguished former councillor and chairman (two times) of the council L Gordon Allen. Very well-known in the area, he has been retired from formal public life for a while but still takes an interest. He is the father of Lynn Cardwell, who stood for the Labour Party at the last County Council elections.

Mr Allen's simple questions:

“There’ve been allegations of a local council fraud in the past. The indications are that the allegations are about New Mills. So I’m asking the Council: which property is allegedly involved; who is being accused; have any investigations or legal actions taken place; or are any planned.”

The chairman of the meeting, Cllr Huggy Hawley, answered sincerely and as best as he could. The response did not satisfy Mr Allen, who came back with:

“Mr Chairman. This is in the public domain. This is on the internet. This is on the site… I don’t like mentioning the site… but it’s a High Peak site and I’ll leave it at that. If a council is being accused of wrong-doing, we should know about it. We shouldn’t be knowing about it through an anonymous person… who I’m going to hand the microphone to now.”

The unusual but charming end to the speech was because Transparency’s editor, Steve McAllister, had appeared at Gordon Allen’s side with the answers to his questions. As the questions were being answered one by one, three councillors and one town council employee were trying to stop the facts getting out.

The cries from the members of the public - the electors who actually pay for all of this - were getting louder and louder among the escalating attempts to shut down the discussion: “No, we want to hear this” “Shut up” “Don’t you tell me to shut up” “This is a public interest matter” “Close down this debate. Close down this debate!” “You sit down” and so on.

The astounding sight of Tony Ashton, Leader of the Borough Council, and the two other Conservatives who voted in secret for spending the public’s money on the legal bills, leaving during the hubbub as fast as their dignity would allow, will stay long in the memory of all who were present. Hot on their heels, reaching the door almost as quickly as they did, was Mrs Susan Stevens, New Mills town council’s responsible financial officer.

Seeing his colleagues flee the meeting, Councillor Lance Dowson took control and the microphone: “It’s really very, very complicated” he lamely tried to tell the audience, who had watched in some astonishment. No it isn’t. It's far from complicated. It is very simple indeed. It’s about corruption and dishonesty in that town hall, before the local elections of 2007.

The Town Meeting continued, and many pleasant things were discussed, including the young people of this part of the High Peak now at long, long last getting a location for their new skate park and BMX track. Provided, of course, that councillors or random local busybodies do not mess it up for them.

Conservatives Back Cover-up Over Land Fraud

2010-04-25T21:32:00.010+01:00

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High Peak Borough Council Leader Tony Ashton has supported a cover-up of one of the most serious cases of dishonesty in High Peak public life.

The trail starts with Cllr Ashton’s Borough Council colleague Ian Huddlestone. He went to see a solicitor on Wednesday 3 March 2010. Cllr Huddlestone knows that serious past wrongdoing in a local town hall is about to be exposed in a new book.

Instead of seeing the lawyer on his own account, which he is entitled to do, Labour councillor Huddlestone used the name and the credit account of the New Mills Town Council.
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Before you could say bald MP’s hairdryer, the time billing had got to £1,800. A partner in the legal firm had even charged on the time-sheet for listening to the BBC’s coverage of the land at the centre of the scandal on Radio 4’s You and Yours programme.

Borough Cllr Huddlestone is a postman. He didn’t mind seeing the solicitor, in an attempt to cause difficulties for the new book, but he didn’t want to pay the bill.

Conservative councillors Mark Gadd, Jacqui Gadd, and Tony Ashton were then presented with the idea of using public money to pay for it. This was in the ‘confidential’ part of a New Mills town council meeting. The meeting was held on 12 April 2010. The public were excluded before this issue was raised.

The original land fraud took place several years ago. On being invited to help fund the contemporary cover-up, Conservative councillor Jacqui Gadd’s first contributions to the discussion were instructive: “Can’t we just agree to pay it?” she asked twice.

Cllr Tony Ashton was initially wiser, and counselled against getting involved with litigation in the matter. He then came out with the bizarre and utterly wrong pronouncement about the book’s author: “If he got marched off to jail for failing to apologise he’d probably regard that as a victory”. Cllr Ashton had not read the book in question, but this proved no barrier to him offering an opinion on it or voting to spend the public’s money in respect of it.

As the council meeting progressed, realisation started to dawn on Cllr J Gadd: “Are we being billed for something we haven’t asked to be done?”

Following the general agreement among the Conservative councillors that the public's money would be used, Cllr Lance Dowson then noticed that no council resolution had been made in order to ensure that it would be spent as he wanted it spent. Lance Dowson is referred to in the book.

In response Conservative councillor Mark Gadd, who is a personal friend of Lance Dowson, said “I’ll propose it.” Cllr Jacqui Gadd, another personal friend, said “I’ll second it,” and the three Conservatives voted on the resolution in favour.

Constitutional expert Cllr Dowson was again deeply concerned: there was still a risk that the public’s money might be kept safe, rather than being made available for wasting on this book repression exercise: “Are we quorate for voting… have we got a quorum?” he was anxious to know.

Conservative Councillor Tony Ashton replied “We’ll work our way around it.”

The Chairman banged the gavel and declared the meeting closed.

The book? It’s about England and it’s about honesty.

Anyone who would like to see the letter that has gone to the above three Conservative councillors providing details about this matter should email this site and a copy will be sent.
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Les Tricoteuses

2010-04-25T21:20:00.001+01:00

The following was sent in by Reimer, who lives in/near Glossop. Originally intended as just a 'comment', it goes into sufficient detail to deserve its own posting. Similar reviews and articles always welcome:

Just got back from election hustings in Central Methodist Chapel, Glossop.

For a constituency that's ostensibly up for grabs, only the Tories seem to be serious about gaining High Peak, judging by the quality of the candidates as public performers.

The UKIP lady didn't show, so she must really care a lot (her place taken by David Phillips, UKIP's Chesterfield man). LibDem man seems very nice but doesn't convince. Green Party man is the kind of wild-eyed fanatic who'd be more at home in some London borough town-hall, or failing that, condemning enemies of the therapeutic State to Madame Guillotine's care. Bingham is slick and personable (wish he was standing for UKIP). And Labour lady's candidacy tells you a lot about the character of the party. No explanation for the absence of the Independent candidates.

First time for me at such an event : the Left-ish/Internationalist tenor of public questions and comments (held in a church of course) chimed with my perception of the town as a bolt-hole for bien pensant twerps... or do these types always dominate public meetings?

If You Don't Live In England...

2010-04-23T05:00:00.000+01:00

Vulnerable Empty Property: Now Entering Second Decade

2010-03-18T18:35:00.003Z

There was recently another fire at Torr Vale Mill. The wrangling over this property, and interference in the owner's proposals for sensitive restoration, is fast becoming reminiscent of two bald men fighting over a comb.

The works closed in 2000. Plans were set out for the mill's complete refurbishment, financed mainly by an enabling development of new homes on the owner's adjoining land.

The local anti-development brigade stepped in - this was in the year 2002 - and the new houses were vetoed. This meant that the project to restore the mill could not go ahead.

A few years later, metal thieves were apprehended leaving the site. Birds have taken up residence high up in the structure. The latest fire - a conflagration of the entire mill was only stalled in the nick of time - was earlier this year.

It's now got a tree growing out of the brickwork, as well as various other vegetation breaking up the structure.

All of these problems have one root and they stem back to the year 2002: in certain parts of High Peak at that time, the attitude was that everybody's got 'rights' apart from the actual owner.

Photograph 'Torr Vale Mill' by Karl Sinfield. Exhibition website http://www.walkinghome.co.uk/

Karl Sinfield's Commercial Design website: http://sinfield.org/

The Knight In Shining Armour

2010-02-25T20:27:00.002Z

Conservative councillor John Haken of Simmondley is all charm.

In his regular letter to the Buxton Advertiser, this week he attacks the LibDem PPC Alistair Stevens because he dared criticise Labour's Caitlin Bisknell. Cllr Haken calls this 'grandiose arrogance'.

Chivalrously, the gallant Cllr Haken springs to the immediate defence of the damsel in distress:

"Whilst in my opinion she is plodding and ineffective, I have never doubted her principles."

Reddish Conservative Club

2010-02-23T11:42:00.002Z

High Peak Transparency is gratified by the number of emails received since emerging from the pre-election hibernation. One, however, was not so welcome. It arrived shortly after 09:42 on 23 February 2010:

"Dear BT Customer:

We've noticed that there has been some unsuccessful login attempt to your BT email account

After three unsuccessful attempts to access your email, your email Profile has been suspended. This has been done to secure your email account and to protect your private information. BT is committed to making sure that your information are secure.

To unlock your email profile, and verify your email identity please follow this link and sign in"

The email then presented a sign-in box, to give the password details. It purported on screen to be http://www.bt.com/email/login. But the link to which the password was to be sent was in fact a different address, covered up by the above alias.

On digging into 'properties' of the email, the sender of the email was established as belonging to someone at a local Conservative Club. The actual email address, hidden behind 'BT Online' in the email's header, is reddishcons.club@btconnect.com

George Agdgdgwngo, Fonejacker's perrenial seeker of personal passwords and bank account details pictured above, appears to have a relative at Reddish Conservative Club.

Form Guide

2010-02-19T10:16:00.025Z

With the election only a matter of weeks away, High Peak Transparency now presents the definitive early guide. We're on cliche watch so haven't said 'runners and riders'.

Political analysts suggest that boundary changes benefit Labour in this constituency. This is because it is rural villages that have been lost from the calculations. However, common sense suggests that general outrage over some of the things Labour has been up to will have the opposite effect.

High Peak is Number 44 on the the Tories' list of nationally targeted seats. That's in the top 7%. However, targeting something does not automatically mean you are going to get it.

To save time dealing with the copious election material that will shortly be heading your way, please feel able to use our free all-purpose policy statement instead:

"The problem with the Germans/ Working Class/ Toffs/ Coloured People is that there are just too many of them."

There will be plenty of time for photographs later; in the meantime here are the pen portraits (in party alphabetical order):

Conservative: Andrew Bingham

Wore a moustache that used to make him look like a snooker referee, but has now wisely lost it. He didn't mislay the thing: presumably this move was part of the serious grooming for higher political office. Hard working and backed by a very highly organised campaign, his party also hopes that he'll be the beneficiary of Labour's capacity to self-destruct.

Green: Peter Allen

Peter represents an astonishing about-turn in this party's historically dismal viewpoint. He points out that “The Green Party believes that everyone has the right to an affordable and secure home.” Crikey. What next? No more lentils?

Independent: Ivan Bell (to be confirmed)

Local councillor Ivan would be a national treasure if he were known er... nationally. He could start an argument in an empty house. Promised to modify his behaviour after getting involved in a rumble with another politician. Can also be very charming so hopefully 'Do you want some?' will not be the campaign slogan if he stands.

(Since this article 'Form Guide' was published, Cllr Ivan has emailed us a) confirming he won't be standing this time and b) offering a few home truths about political parties. Unfortunately this is a family site so we are unable to pass them on.)

Labour: Caitlin Bisknell

Was selected from a shortlist where males were prohibited from standing for democratic office. That sounds so mad that we'll say it again. A shortlist where males were prohibited from standing for democratic office. To her credit, she disagrees with that policy. Will be confronted by exactly the same difficulties as Lynn Cardwell was (County Councillor candidate, a decent person who came bottom of the poll), as a result of the corrupt and dishonest activities of some individuals in the local Labour Party in New Mills. Ian Huddlestone is the sole remaining person in elected public office for Labour from that time.

Liberal Democrat: Alistair Stevens

Sports enthusiast and well-known local cricketing figure, appears to follow the Stuart Hall mould where football allegiance is concerned. As in "No, I don't like football. I support Man City."

Passionately against the whole way Iraq was handled, he sees good prospects for continuing to build on local LibDem recent successes. Better transport, support for business and for hill farmers, and affordable housing feature on the list of things to be tackled urgently.

Alistair Stevens made the following statement in his first campaign interview: "I have strong principles and I act on them."

UK Independence Party: Sylvia Hall

May inadvertantly be the death of Conservative Party hopes, by reducing their electoral share in this constituency. Sylvia Hall actually says what a lot of Tories privately think, and this time they are able to vote for her.

And Finally:

It's all about transparency. Because transparency leads to honesty.

The Calm Before The Storm

2010-02-18T11:28:00.004Z

Double dealing, dastardly deeds, murder... No it's not New Mills councillors pre-2007, it's the new school play in the town.

The play is Treasure Island, adapted from Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel. Head of Drama at New Mills School Alison Barker got over the technical difficulty of there being too many girls for this pre-feminism text by simply using girls in some of the more unexpected roles. 'Bev Gunn', 'Lady' Trelawney, pirate-ettes and so on. "It's genius" as Vince Noir puts it, in the Mighty Boosh.

A bit of good clean fun, just before the slanging, scare-mongering and general mud-slinging hoo-ha of the general election starts in the High Peak.

Transparency And A Better Democracy

2009-12-07T09:52:00.006Z

The Today Programme on BBC and the Buxton Advertiser aren't usually mentioned in the same sentence. But a letter sent to the Advertiser arrived in our inbox this morning, and this was immediately after the Today programme covered exactly the same subject.

The final portion of the letter:

"Sadly, Mr [Ken] Hope and Cllr Bingham are missing the bigger picture in a welter of tedious party political twaddle. Do they really want our politics paid for and dominated by super-rich non-UK taxpayers or by those who refuse to say where they live for tax purposes? All our three main parties are guilty of condoning this.

I have already publically condemned the Lib Dems’ former donor Michael Brown, but Cllr Bingham is loath to do the same with the Tories’ biggest donor, Lord Ashcroft.

Ashcroft has been extensively investigated by a national newspaper, a national magazine and some on-line bloggers. These reports make worrying reading. Yet Lord Ashcroft – famed for his law suits – has apparently issued no writs.

The Prime Minister of Ashcroft’s adopted home of Belize, Dean Barrow, has also savaged the peer this week and has implied that our military base in Belize is at risk if Ashcroft gets a job in any Tory Government.

I am sure Cllr Bingham would like the issue of party funding and ‘non-dom’ supporters to go away – but it just won’t. It also made headlines last week in the Tories’ most influential mouthpiece, The Daily Telegraph. There is fury at all levels in the party that their ‘green guru’ Zac Goldsmith, prospective parliamentary candidate for Richmond, failed to declare his non-domicile tax status when accepting nomination.

I believe the super-rich who have their wealth tucked away in dodgy tax havens have no place in UK politics. I’m sure they couldn’t care less about the plight of hill farmers in the High Peak, the old and disabled in Buxton and Chapel or the young unemployed in Whaley Bridge and New Mills. I suspect their real motivation is power and influence. These issues concern me passionately as I have lived most of my life in High Peak.

We need a thorough clean-up of UK politics and party funding must be at the top of the agenda. We must rid ourselves of these political parasites and produce a much better democracy than we have now."

Produce a much better democracy than we have now? While the Ashcroft secret tax haven carry-on continues this very simple goal will continue to be frustrated.

For the sake of our country, the Conservatives have got to do better than this.

Notes:
The author of the letter is Alistair Macdonald of Whaley Bridge.
The photo is of the living Lord Ashcroft, in front of a picture of the deceased Winston Churchill.

The Letter

2009-10-23T17:06:00.010+01:00

For those who haven't seen it, below is an abridged version of the letter from Nigel Johnson-Hill to the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The original, full version can now be found via internet search.

Dear Secretary of State

My friend, who is in farming at the moment, recently received a cheque from the Rural Payments Agency for £3,000 for not rearing pigs. I would now like to join the 'not rearing pigs' business.

In your opinion, what is the best kind of farm not to rear pigs on, and which is the best breed of pig not to rear?

I would prefer not to rear bacon pigs, but if this not the type you want not to be rearing, I will just as gladly not rear porkers. Are there any advantages in not rearing rare breeds such as saddlebacks or Gloucester Old Spots, or are there too many people already not rearing these?

My friend is very satisfied with this business. He has been rearing pigs for forty years or so, and the best he ever made on them was £1,422 in 1968. That is until this year, when he received a government cheque for not rearing any.

Yours faithfully (etc)

The Fool On The Natural England Hill

2009-10-23T16:39:00.016+01:00

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'Natural England' recently gave £12,000 to a local farmer for not building a wall.

The 'Rural Payments Agency' became involved. 'Environmental Stewardship Scheme' money had been sent out willy-nilly in connection with something to do with a wall, in a place governed by the 'Peak District National Park Authority'.

No-one had looked to see if the wall had been repaired, or even still existed, before sending out the money.

There was originally a 'Countryside Commission', which changed its name to 'The Countryside Agency', which joined up with 'English Nature', subsequently becoming 'Natural England', and sponsored by the 'Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs'.

The thing that all of these unnecessary, superfluous overlapping 'countryside' bureaucratic bodies and quangos have in common is the sheer profligate waste of other people's hard-earned money.

Melvyn or Charles?

2009-10-22T21:56:00.017+01:00

22 October 2009 was a quite interesting day for the many people around here who like to argue about the weather and a possible climate.

Melvyn Bragg, presenting BBC Radio 4's excellent programme In Our Time was led through the history of the British Isles and the ups and downs of the climate. The period covered was 600 million years, stretching to just over 1 billion years when one or two of the guest scientists became over excited.

Melvyn learned, and through him the listeners, that the British Isles area has been a baking desert and under about a kilometre of ice. This has happened on a regular basis.

When Transparency's editor told his friend Craig in the 1990s, a physicist who works at CERN, that this global warming thing was disastrous, Craig pointed out that when he was about to leave Manchester Central Grammar School to go to university, in 1970, the same scientists and meteorologists were confidently predicting the new ice age.

A bit of research dug out the two Time magazine covers from the relevant periods, reproduced below.

Charles Jolly and his friends, of Transisition Buxton, are in no doubt. Charles said as much in today's local paper. Man is heating up the planet. People who point out inconvenient facts are no different from holocaust deniers. Shamefully, even the same word - denier - is used.

Perhaps Melvyn and Charles can both agree that, while the earth's human population continues to grow so rapidly and exponentially, any suggested 'climate change remedy' is neither use nor ornament.

MP Fails Transparency Test In Questions Over Public Money

2009-10-15T19:41:00.009+01:00

High Peak's MP, Tom Levitt, seems determined to help his local political opponents in every conceivable way possible.

In the latest episode in the expenses scandal, Mr Levitt has received a letter from the independent auditor - appointed by Mr Levitt's own government please note - and has now refused to release a copy to the press.

It is obvious that, if the auditor's letter exonerated the MP, it would have been released in an instant.

Irony Corner:

Tom Levitt MP has stated that he supports the organisation Transparency International.

The link to Mr Levitt's press release on this issue:

http://www.tomlevitt.org.uk/legg-enquiry-on-mps-expenses-13-october-2009

The link to one of High Peak Transparency's earlier articles on this subject:

http://highpeaktransparency.blogspot.com/2009/05/outrageous-expenses-competition-closed.html

Carbon Saving? Do As We Say, Not As We Do

2009-10-15T18:43:00.007+01:00

The public sector bureaucrats who lecture us about the carbon footprint of unnecessary journeys have been caught out again.

This time it's Jim Dixon. Mr Dixon is the chief executive of the quango called Peak District National Park Authority.

Recently, the chief executive had another nice jolly at taxpayers' expense.* This time, it was a trip over to Sweden.

Sweden, nice place to visit though it is, has got nothing genuine to do with this public sector job here in the local area.

*Stromstad and back, Sept 2009

A Place Far From The Madding Crowd No Longer

2009-10-13T21:38:00.027+01:00

If you wanted to get away from it all on the 11th of October, it looks as if you picked the wrong day.

Yet more trampling on the Kinder plateau (pictured above) took place on that date, and building up of nonsensical myths about the place by people who you'd think would know better.

Myth One: Some trespassing that took place in 1932 is the reason we can all go into the national park if we want to.
In fact, the land has been bought from its owner. The national trust used our money - entirely legitimately - for the purchase.

Myth Two: People were jailed for trespassing.

Another false statement. Violence and riotious assembly were the reasons for the criminal charges.

Trespassing on private property is not a crime now and it was not a crime then. The many people who simply trespassed in an attempt to make a point were not even arrested, never mind charged with anything.

Myth Three: The town of New Mills was the pivotal place in relation to the trespass.

In fact Hayfield is where the 1932 people met, then later that day a few of them were arrested. Most of them came from the districts of nearby Manchester, such as Gorton. Another group came over to visit the plateau from the Sheffield side.

The slight relationship with New Mills came about by accident. Hayfield did not have a big enough lock-up, so the police had to go from Hayfield to the next town, randomly simply the nearest place with the necessary facilities.

In later years, New Mills came to have an influential politician with friends high up in the Labour government under Blair and Brown: the late Martin Doughty.

Martin Doughty - a tireless self-promoter especially where 'public' money might be there to be spent - almost single-handedly managed to build up the chance and slight association between his home town and the events of 1932 into the grandiose and false myth that it has become.

Transparency's favourite story from these events relates to the trial, which took place in Derby. The judge was told that one of the accused had a book by Lenin on him. "Isn't that the Russian gentleman?" he replied.

Boyish Charm

2009-10-06T20:35:00.006+01:00

Occasionally, something that sounds like a gimmick is actually a brilliant idea.

George Osborne, the Tories' shadow chancellor, (pictured above) represents a nearby constituency.

Today he said that people given a job in the public sector who make more money than the prime minister of the United Kingdom would have to justify themselves.

This is dependent on the Tories forming the next government. Politics is starting to become interesting again.

Let's Pretend That It's A Village Green

2009-10-04T10:13:00.019+01:00

High Peak Borough Council has gone on record complaining about the effect of current state-sponsored 'land grabs' in England.

These are where the council or some individual owns a property, but somebody makes a spurious claim that the land is a 'town or village green'.

The land owner is, in effect, deprived of his or her property. No compensation is paid. There is no opportunity for reasonable negotiation, or indeed any negotiation.

The governmment has supported this dishonest - not to mention completely mad - land-grab legislation for England. They allowed the law in this important area to be written, in effect, by lobbyists from the so-called Open Spaces Society, which has a very narrow vested interest.

Scotland has a more logical, sensible legal system in this respect and the 'let's pretend that somebody's property is a village green' scam by middle-class nimbys, as a device to prevent development near to where they live, is impossible north of the border.

Cuts? Not For Council Bosses' Pockets

2009-10-02T17:06:00.014+01:00

The News of the World has a rather direct style.

Verbatim, here is how High Peak's Chief Executive made it into the Sunday newspaper on the 20th of September 2009.

Unfortunately there was no 'love nest' or 'three-in-a-bed romp', which would have been more fun.

If there had, it would also have been one hell of a lot cheaper:

'Get-rich council bosses have pocketed pay rises of up to 45 per cent this year - while hard-working Brits lose their jobs or see their wages slashed.

'A News of the World investigation today reveals the shameless fat cats who have bumped up their salaries as unemployment has hit 2.47 million and more than 2,000 workers join the dole queue every day.'

The paper then puts Simon Baker of 'Staffordshire Moorlands and High Peak' near the top of their list of shame at a 37% increase. From £110,000 to £151,000 a year.

Fortunately, there was also a bit of light relief, as some fantasy/comedy was introduced near the end of the article:

'Last night council bosses insisted the rises reflected market forces.'

Double-speak

2009-10-01T22:37:00.002+01:00

Ex-mayor Lancelot Edgar Dowson has been busy lately.

Transparency offers a free translation service. This is so that pronouncements of some of our local politicians may be rendered into plain English.

A letter he wrote to the Buxton Advertiser, published on 1 October 2009, contains the usual strange venting of personal spleen against all things LibDem. Cllr Dowson's original statements - verbatim - are in italic, with the translations following in plain text:

'I was very surprised at the absolute silence that my proposal caused and the lack of support that it received'

Most councillors didn't like it

'Cllr Beth Atkins, New Mill's (sic) Liberal Democrat Town and County Cllr, then proposed that the Council vote for her fellow Liberal Democrat, Cllr David Lomax of Whaley Bridge, and this was voted on and, with all the other Liberal Democrats voting in favour of it, was passed.

Democracy worked.

'Widespread Misunderstanding' Causes Problems For Bastard

2009-09-01T09:26:00.000+01:00

High Peak's MP, Tom Levitt, this week used the word 'illegitimate' in his newspaper column. He was describing the strange administrative offspring of the current get-together between High Peak and Staffordshire Moorlands Councils.

All lovers of words will have spotted Mr Levitt's careful choice here, and his deliberate decision not to use the word 'illegal'. The really big Oxford English Dictionary in Transparency's offices states that the oldest recorded meaning of the word 'illegitimate' in English is from 1536:

Not born in lawful wedlock; spurious, bastard.

Tom Levitt (Labour) also criticised the back door methods being used to accomplish this strange new merger that nobody voted for. But Councillor Emily Thrane of the ruling Conservative group sprang to the defence of the bastard (not Mr Levitt, the product of the two local councils).

She said there was widespread misunderstanding over the 'strategic alliance', which is the label the Tories have come up with for the scheme. But misunderstanding or not, this has now resulted in the majority of High Peak services being run from outside the area. Good luck to Cllr Thrane if she's been given the job of bringing 'understanding' to High Peak residents on this subject.

High Peak Transparency has now learnt that several High Peak Conservative councillors are not at all happy with the direction that this 'innovative' idea has taken. Unsurprisingly, dismembering the council without asking the voters first is not why they stood for election as councillors.

History teaches that 'strategic' alliances made in secret and not between equals tend to end in tears.

For previous High Peak Transparency articles on the Strategic Alliance/ Illegitimate Arrangement/ Novel Totally Mad Merger follow these links:

http://highpeaktransparency.blogspot.com/2009/06/incredible-shrinking-council.html

http://highpeaktransparency.blogspot.com/2009/05/four-councils-in-one-room.html

http://highpeaktransparency.blogspot.com/2009/05/karen-carpenter-council.html

How To Lie With (Environmental) Statistics

2009-08-05T12:12:00.013+01:00

This time it's a senior Labour minister doing the deed, and it's the Conservatives who are being done down.

The Department for Energy and Climate Change pounced on figures which purported to show that Conservative-run councils refuse more wind-farm applications than Labour-run councils. 'We're greener than thou' is the message Labour Secretary of State Ed Miliband (pictured, right) wants to put over by giving publicity to this very carefully selected statistic.

What the headlines don't reveal is that more Conservative-controlled councils are in rural areas. This is where there are protected or valuable landscapes that no-one wants ruined. The Labour councils tend to be in areas where the surroundings are urban, so that wind-power generation is acceptable and even desirable.

Incidentally, this tiny island of Britain creating a new 'Minister For Climate Change' is like when the Vikings appointed King Canute as minister for stopping the tide coming in in 1013.

What's She Doing Out Of The Kitchen?

2009-08-03T10:13:00.020+01:00

In the first of an occasional series, examining a Big Idea from someone at the top in politics today, we look at the beliefs of Labour's Equalities Minister and Deputy Leader, Harriet Harman.

The idea, in the proposer's own words:

"I don't agree with all-male leaderships. Men cannot be left to run things on their own. I think it's a thoroughly bad thing to have men-only leadership."*

Ms Harman is ignoring some very basic truths here. Fundamental principles, which have governed male-run hierarchies from ancient times and throughout history, show that this dear lady may actually be suffering from a medical condition or clinical delusion in making her suggestion.

First, let us take the example of Germany, pre-war. Or pre both wars.

Possibly the greatest ever example of a successful political state was Germany in the era from January 1933 up to December 1941.

This period, which ended on the 11th of December 1941 with the declaration of war on the United States of America to add to the collection of concurrent states of war against the Soviet Union and the entire British Empire, led to the power, spread and influence of Germany reaching its zenith. France, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium and so on; the successful tour of European countries and beyond had seemed endless. There was only the trip to Britain in summer 1940 that had to be cancelled.

Ms Harman should carefully note that during all of this period, it was strictly 'men only' at the top table in German political life. Women were kept for breeding purposes, decoration, and the making of films about how great the men were.

There are many other examples of successful male dominated societies, all the way up to the present.

Today, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran would no more consider allowing women into powerful positions in his country than he would consider juggling a live pig and a copy of Playboy while dancing on a relief map of Israel. So you see Ms Harman, men certainly can be left to run things on their own.

Further East, an outfit called the Taliban is likewise showing the way forward for all-male leaderships. Here, it's not only the present they are concerned about. They want to ensure 'the future belongs to them' as well.

It is literally forbidden for young females to get an education. The summary execution of teachers - in the classroom and in front of the children - where girls are found in the class not only happens, it is wholeheartedly approved of by the male-only authorities. That is, when they're not burning kites or flogging people who sing.

So finally, what is the assessment of this Big Idea? Ms Harman has not only upset John Prescott with her flighty feminine notion on this occasion, she has also demonstrated why living in the modern democratic West is a failure, and why it will fail time and time again so long as women are permitted in the decison-making processes.

It is no wonder that no-one wants to come and live here.

*Sunday Times interview, 2 August 2009

Dodgy. Or, "Why Won't He Just Answer The Simple Question?"

2009-07-30T13:06:00.028+01:00

You will notice this article has a choice of two headlines.

It concerns the issue of political party funding and the Conservatives' local prospective parliamentary candidate, Andrew Bingham. That's him on the left, with the mysterious Dave who keeps sending letters to the editor of High Peak Transparency. Not in a Me and Mrs Jones sense - they haven't 'got a thing going on' - it's just that the editor is on the electoral roll so keeps getting all these things through the post.

The elusive and tax-avoiding Michael Ashcroft, deputy chairman of the conservative party who became Lord Ashcroft, is shortly going to be forced to either reveal whether he pays tax here in this country or alternatively stop funding the party.

This new development came about because the government bowed to pressure from across parliament and from the poor old public who pay all the bills that governments run up. As a result, the forthcoming Elections Act has now been amended to make it illegal to bankroll UK political parties if you don't pay UK taxes - or if you hide business dealings in order to achieve the same effect.

No reasonable, honest person can complain about this long overdue change in the law. It's that word 'Transparency' again. It's marvellous, it really is.

With all that in mind, the answer* Andrew Bingham gave to the question of whether his political campaigning gets financial benefit from the secretive wealthy tax-dodging overseas resident was very, very disappointing.

He didn't simply say 'yes', which would have been great. Transparent and honest.

Why won't he just answer the question?

His failure to do so means that it's all now starting to look very simple. Because if the answer was 'no', then Andrew Bingham - who is currently a member of High Peak Borough Council as well as wanting to represent the High Peak constituency in parliament - would have taken this opportunity to say it was 'no'.

*Published in the Buxton Advertiser on 30 July 2009.

Down On The Farms

2009-07-29T20:01:00.007+01:00

Hayfield is accurately described in the forthcoming book The Village Green Preservation Society:

Honey-coloured walls against sloping hillsides, this place had characteristics that were pleasing to the eye. From the enclosures of the fields to the different stone-roofed houses on each side of the river, the lack of uniformity made it attractive and gave an impression of growing up rather than being ordered in the time of planners.

It's also the birthplace of Arthur Lowe ('You stupid boy').

Now for the bit that concerns integrity and honesty in politics.

The planning committee of High Peak Borough Council recently decided an application by some poor soul who wanted to make a living and provide jobs for local people. The owner of Windy Harbour farm had proposed creating holiday accommodation, offering good access to the nearby Peak District National Park.

Upon this planning application being considered*, the committee was exactly split. When this happens, the chairman has a casting vote. On this occasion, his decision was that the proposal must be refused.

The chairman of that important committee is Councillor Herbert David Mellor, who owns Spray House Farm in Little Hayfield. This is a few hills and a modest ramble from the planning application site.

A visit to Peak District's current website reveals a very interesting fact. At Spray House Farm Mr Herbert David Mellor runs a business providing holiday accommodation, offering good access to the nearby Peak District National Park.

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The use by Mr Mellor of his position on the council to ensure this conflict of interest came out, shall we say, 'in his favour', must now be properly investigated. Whitewash has appeared to be the usual result at this council where one of their own is concerned.

Let us see if it can do better this time.

* On 1 June 2009 at the council's offices in Chinley

'Natural England' Quango Is Run By Irish Person

2009-07-28T09:32:00.019+01:00

If you live in England look at the above, coming soon to a landscape near you.

There is a large quango called 'Natural England'. Putting aside the fact that most of the English countryside is man-made and has not been 'natural' since the last ice age, this quango is currently flexing its media muscles and massive budget with a new campaign telling us how we are going to live our lives.

The 'Natural England' executive director for evidence and planning, Andrew Wood, said national parks will be expected to play their part:

'We need onshore wind farms and we should be open to the idea that some of that will be in protected landscapes.'

Its chief executive has also come out against those people who object to large scale wind farms being dumped in the countryside of this rather small island:

'As a society, we have to move from knee-jerk nimbyism to an informed consensus that there are landscapes where sustainable renewable energy infrastructure is desirable and should be encouraged.'

The above instruction is from Helen Phillips. She is the chief executive of possibly the most sanctimonious and patronising of all the bloated quangocracy that's expanded beyond reason under New Labour. Almost all of the money it gets from the taxpayer is spent on its own staff.
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Nobody has ever elected any of these people.

Despite the curious decision to call it 'Natural England' and give it the powers to do untold damage Helen Phillips, the organisation's chief executive, is not English. She's Irish.
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Why Is A New Bathroom Like An MP's Wife?

2009-07-25T19:28:00.029+01:00

No, it's not that they're both exceptionally, faultlessly fragrant. Though of course, undoubtedly they are.

A mole inside the High Peak Constituency Labour Party sent us some material about the local MP and his wife, Tom and Teresa Levitt. Clearly the MP is now regarded by some people inside the local party as being fatally damaged goods, politically speaking.

Anyway, for those without access to the inner circle, here is how Mrs Levitt dealt with criticism of the excessive cost of their new bathroom which we taxpayers had to pay for:

The above is taken from the MP's Facebook communications. "Can't imagine what polishing gold might be like... no way!" indeed. What next, 'Let them eat cake'?

Teresa Levitt and the new bathroom have something in common: we pay for both of them. The wife is down as being employed at public expense as PA for the MP husband. Our pockets have also been dipped into for the expensive bathroom fittings in their private London flat - no doubt to go with the legendary 'hairdryer for a bald MP' (Tom Levitt again*).

We wish most of these things weren't true but they're all there, freshly on the public record in this year of new transparency, one of the most important years in the history of British politics and democracy.

* see earlier High Peak Transparency article:

http://highpeaktransparency.blogspot.com/2009/05/outrageous-expenses-competition-closed.html

Muck And Brass

2009-07-24T08:35:00.016+01:00

Alistair Macdonald is a High Peak resident. He's familiar to many north west television viewers as a reporter and presenter. In the world of television, he discovered Fred Dibnah and was the first person to interview him in front of a sound and camera crew. But we won't hold that against him.

A couple of weeks ago Mr Macdonald asked some questions of the local conservatives, by way of a letter published in the local newspaper.

The questions have been ignored. The local conservative party appears to be curiously shy on this particular subject. So in the Buxton Advertiser of 23 July 2009, Mr Macdonald has had to repeat the exercise:

Heartwarming though it was to see the Tories' Prospective Parliamentary Candidate Andrew Bingham cradling a lamb in last week's Buxton Advertiser, he still seems rather sheepish about telling us who is funding his campaign.

So let me ask again. Does the money come from the elusive Lord Ashcroft, better known in Belize than the UK? It would be good to know whether the cash is from a man who refuses to say where he lives for tax purposes and who does not appear to play by the same rules as the rest of us.

Alistair Macdonald, Whaley Bridge, High Peak

...

Everybody interested in the honesty and integrity of local politics is awaiting this answer.

When it comes, it will be analysed here on High Peak Transparency, which first introduced the issue to this region. The link to the original article is below:

http://highpeaktransparency.blogspot.com/2009/06/lord-ashcroft-and-high-peak.html

If You Can't Stand The Heat, Go And Mither The Police

2009-07-23T16:51:00.034+01:00

The police investigation in connection with this site has ended. For 'the story so far', see earlier article: http://highpeaktransparency.blogspot.com/2009/07/police-investigation.html

Here is how it concluded.

The editor of High Peak Transparency attended the local police station by request on the morning of 23 July 2009. It was not for an interview, whether informal or under caution. The stated purpose was for the investigating officer to give an update on where matters were up to.

The file on the desk in the police station was alarmingly thick. There were no tea and biscuits, but otherwise everything was very civil and reasonable.

The allegations, fully investigated, were that offences had been committed contrary to the following laws (in order of age):

- The crime of defamatory libel

- The Malicious Communications Act 1988

- The Protection from Harassment Act 1997

- The Communications Act 2003

The Crown Prosecution Service concluded that no action should be taken in the matter.

The name of the complainant or complainants was still not revealed, despite the question being put to the police again.

There is at least one crime here. It has been committed by whichever politician, or politicians, that ever thought it even remotely appropriate for expensively trained police officers to be sent running around on their behalf, basically for the ulterior purpose of protecting politicians' egos and/or secrets that have been covered up.

One further law is relevant to this matter. Unfortunately, where certain local politicians are concerned, it doesn't appear that it's going to be investigated. It is Section 5 of the Criminal Law Act 1967.

This offence is more commonly known as 'wasting police time'.

The saying 'If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen' is usually attributed to Harry Truman, 33rd president of the United States of America and therefore, by definition, a successful politician. In fact, he was quoting with approval something his friend had said.

'LibDems And Labour Don't Like Cuddly Little Lambs So You Must All Vote Conservative'

2009-07-18T10:11:00.012+01:00

Andrew Bingham, Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for the High Peak (left), has promised to safeguard services while strengthening the economy in the rural areas. The press coverage was accompanied by a picture of him holding a lovely lamb.

Tom Levitt, MP for the area, accused the Tories of simply providing a list of motherhood and apple pie.

Steve Sharp, LibDem candidate for Westminster, wasn't quick enough on the draw and so didn't get out to have his picture taken with children or kissing a baby. He insisted instead on talking about politics and real people.

The conservatives' pledge to safeguard services while strengthening the economy has caught opposing parties on the hop. They had surely been considering promising to destroy services while weakening the economy.

Friends of the Earth Transport Policy Announced:

2009-07-13T23:01:00.002+01:00

Shock Call For Councils To Be Properly Organised

2009-07-12T07:41:00.014+01:00

Some years ago, the towns of Glossop and New Mills were regarded as part of the Greater Manchester 'family' of local government. There are many key historic links, mainly brought about by the industrial revolution which centred on that conurbation and then went around the world.

All the councils in Greater Manchester are part of the government's North West administrative region. This makes perfect sense.

But in a local government re-organisation many years ago, Glossop and New Mills were placed in 'East Midlands'. This is an artificial construction which centres on far-away Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, and Leicestershire. It is tinted red on the above map of England's administrative regions.

A local councillor, Liberal Democrat Steve Sharp, said this week that local residents should be allowed a vote to see if they want to change. This would mean joining with local Tameside and Stockport respectively.

As this is basic and obvious common sense, the idea is bound to stir up some fairly noisy opposition.

Planning Dept 1, National Health Service 0

2009-07-11T08:24:00.013+01:00

The heinous crime of simply trying to bring disused buildings or land back into positive, productive use has again been slapped down by the local planning bureaucracy.

This time it's the NHS that is trying to fund a development, and its selected developer has been trying to jump through all of the insane hoops that the so-called 'planning system' puts in the way.

The property at dispute this time is the fast-deteriorating old Easton House, in Glossop (above).

The health service developer fulfilled 11 of the 12 conditions demanded, but could not do the sash type of windows required by High Peak planning department. The health and safety legislation for a medical facility does not permit that design of window.

Of course, it would not be a High Peak property matter without there also being a twist: there is quite often a little something lurking 'behind the headlines' where politics in this region is concerned.

High Peak Borough Council is the freeholder of the property. It is trying to get someone else to put all the work, money and risk in, while at the same time obstructing them.

Police Investigation

2009-07-07T09:06:00.096+01:00

On the afternoon of Thursday 2 July 2009 High Peak Transparency received an email from an officer serving in the Derbyshire police force:

'I am currently investigating a complaint from a Local Councillor about one of your items,' the email said, and gave the relevant police contact details.

While the editor was wondering what to do about this, an urgent reminder came in, sent to Transparency on the afternoon of 5 July 2009:

'Could you please contact the below officer asap? Complaints from local councillor about your articles.'

The editor of High Peak Transparency immediately phoned the police. Unfortunately, these emails weren't a hoax. The officer who sent the emails is PC Tony Mckeown. His superior - copied in on the urgent reminder - is Sergeant John Bowman. Both these officers are part of the policing team in the small town of New Mills (town hall pictured above).

The conversation didn't get a lot further than the editor asking which local politician thought that valuable police time should be spent investigating the High Peak Transparency site and PC Mckeown refusing to say, save that it was a councillor from New Mills. No reference was made as to what the criminal charges are, or might be.

The situation was left that Transparency's editor would be either voluntarily interviewed by the police or interviewed under police caution following arrest.

Currently, there are thirteen politicians who meet the description 'councillor from New Mills'.

Being a bit of a Sherlock Holmes fan (but not Columbo - he's too much of a tease), the editor put down the violin and opium pipe, got out the deerstalker, and asked around in the local community for any helpful facts.
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Let us go back to Thursday 2 July 2009. This was the afternoon that the police contacted High Peak Transparency.
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Earlier that day a Safer Neighbourhood Forum was held. Both police officers and local politicians were in attendance during this meeting, which took place in New Mills on Longlands Road. A local councillor had a word in the ear of a local police officer. Or perhaps it was the other way around. The result in the small town is the same in either event: the threat of police arrest of someone who might have revealed facts that a politician would prefer to be out of public sight.

Watch this space. If the posts on this site stop for any longer than 10 days then the computer has been taken away during a visit from officers of Derbyshire police.

Last time they attended, which was on the 13th of March 2009, they took away files and documents as well as the computer. At least nine different police officers were involved, including the officers who called at 09:20 to make the arrest and secure 'the suspect'; the interviewing officers up to the rank of detective sergeant; the premises search officers who came back during the day while 'the suspect' was in secure custody; and so on.

It took a month, and a letter to the Chief Constable of Derbyshire Police requiring detailed information about the police's involvement in the incident, for the above personal property finally to be released. There were no charges. Considering that this police action arose out of complaints made about an article published by the Times of London, the whole thing was a complete waste of public resources - and the police's time - from the outset.

No crime or wrongdoing of any kind had been committed by the arrested person. Again, everything stemmed from a New Mills politician previously having had 'a word in the ear' of the local police.

The defence firm of solicitors described - in writing, on that firm's formal legal letterhead - their reaction to first-hand observation of Derbyshire police activities in the matter: "incredulity".

Any politician who feels the need to complain about any article should contact this site directly, using the email address/link at the top right of the page, just under the banner title. Complaints with genuine substance will always be acted on and the relevant article amended accordingly.

No criticism of the two above-named police officers is implied or intended in any way by this article.

It's Oh So Quiet

2009-06-26T08:12:00.014+01:00

There isn't anything funny to say about the island nation of Iceland and High Peak Borough Council.

Small, inward-looking, populated by strange people. And Iceland's just as bad.

Anyway, the Audit Commission's report on local authorities and this major financial scandal has just been published. £2 million of taxpayers' money was sent from our local Borough Council over to the land of Bjork then lost in space - basically at the push of a button.

Our three main neighbouring authorities are Derbyshire County Council, Staffordshire Moorlands, and Tameside. The grand total of these councils' financial exposure to Icelandic banks is respectively zero, and er... zero. Oh, and zero.

The new Audit Commission report on this scandal, 'Risk and Return', is available here:

http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/nationalstudies/localgov/Pages/riskandreturn.aspx

Incredible Shrinking Council

2009-06-25T16:00:00.019+01:00

On the third of June 2009, the following revelations about High Peak Borough Council's big property sell-off were published here on High Peak Transparency.

It took the Glossop Chronicle over two weeks to catch up, and even then they printed a question mark next to their headline. The Buxton Advertiser was so late it had us wondering if they've heard about the Beatles breaking up yet.

Here is the original article, as published on High Peak Transparency at 19:48 on 3 June 2009:

A little bird - an extremely reliable little bird - has told High Peak Transparency that the Borough's headquarters are to be disposed of to the highest bidder.

The news is unlikely to do anything for the morale of staff already trying to work under the conditions of sometimes not knowing who - or even where - their boss is on a day-to-day basis.

The Property and Estate Management function has already been earmarked to be carried out by another council, not within High Peak.

For many years High Peak Borough Council has operated mainly from its self-contained office complex just outside Chapel-en-le-Frith. One feature of the bizarro-world arrangements that are currently emerging, which involve getting into bed with Staffordshire Moorlands Council, is that the bosses think one of the two councils' headquarters isn't necessary.

Indeed, rationalisation of assets is one of the prime purposes of Staffpeak, or Highfordshire Moorlands, or whatever name the new administrative thing is going to end up with.
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The purpose - efficiency - is well-intentioned. But many unintended consequences are inevitable when this kind of experimentation is attempted. Accountability is already becoming one obvious casualty.

Before this merger goes past the point of no return - which clearly is fast approaching if major properties are being disposed of - is there sufficient foresight and thinking-power available to those who've only recently climbed into the driving seat at the council?

There will be dancing in the cubicles of local government tonight.

For earlier dispatches on this 'innovative' way of running councils, please see:

http://highpeaktransparency.blogspot.com/2009/05/karen-carpenter-council.html

http://highpeaktransparency.blogspot.com/2009/05/four-councils-in-one-room.html

Rest In Peace

2009-06-23T15:24:00.025+01:00

This site is published in England.

If any citizen of this country wants to level criticism at the things local politicians get up to, or call our Prime Minister a big fat fraud, or point out that the government has become a bunch of incompetent spongers who couldn't run a bath, then it is our hard-won birthright that we are free to do so. The colours of any particular party or politician who is being commented upon are irrelevant.

The above is a picture in life of Neda Agha Soltan (16), one of the innocent young people shot dead on Saturday by pro-government forces in Tehran.

Thanks to the massive new phenomenon of citizen journalism, the video of the moments of her death on a street in Iran is now available on YouTube. Key in 'Neda'.

The more worldwide hits these videos attract, the more the chances of freedom, and free speech, for the future young citizens of Iran increase.

Note: this real life death scene is so graphic that YouTube requires you to be over 18 to see it.

Save The Planet - Hours Of Daylight Only Please

2009-06-23T09:26:00.019+01:00

The fairly nice nutters over at New Mills Hydro power have run into a problem.

Currently - no pun intended - no electricity is being generated at night. They've stopped it because a complaint was sent to High Peak Borough Council from a member of the public. The complaint is 'noise-related'.

Another ridiculous halt to the green electricity is when the river is at its usual summer levels. During those periods, the so-called Environment Agency has made it a requirement that the water goes over the weir and therefore run to waste, rather than passing through the channel where it generates green energy.

So for significant parts of the day and the year, for completely irrational reasons, the Goyt riverside generating plant is made idle. Environmentally free power is lost forever. Not only is the thing a blot on the landscape, it is now an extremely inefficient one.

At the moment, all concerned have ended up with the worst of both worlds.

Waste Watchers

2009-06-19T09:32:00.056+01:00

The government has announced its white paper 'Digital Britain'. The national headlines were about broadband, but slipping under the radar was the white paper's concerns over the uncontrolled growth in councils' newspapers.

"While local authority information sheets can serve a useful purpose, they will inevitably not be as rigorous in holding local institutions to account as independent local media..." is one part of its assessment.

The trucks and other road transport, delivering the hundreds of thousands of the latest paper copies of Derbyshire County Council newspaper Insight all over the region, provided residents with the following important information:

- 'For every person in Derbyshire we will spend £18 on contingency' (page 4);

- 'The hunt is on to find the location of a view featured in a 1842 watercolour just acquired by the county council'. Councillor Bob Janes said "It's a lovely painting." (p5);

- 'We've been named as the 63rd top gay employer in the UK' (p8) [note: not that there's anything wrong with that];

- People should look out for the new Gold Card magazine, which will 'hit the streets' shortly (p9);

- 'We've now sold 50,000 compost bins to keen recyclers across the county' (page 7)

- 'Around 35 couples tie the knot every year at our County Hall headquarters in Matlock' (page 2);

- 'We've sold 50,000 compost bins to householders around the county' (this time on page 10 - they've done an interesting bit of recycling themselves there);

We stopped the review of 24-page Derbyshire County Council Insight at page ten. As News of the World reporters used to say, at this point 'we made our excuses and left.'

The same Labour crew has had its feet under the desks in County Hall for 28 years. On the latest figures, the total spending by Derbyshire County Council is £1,104,000,000. In a year. Not forever, just in a year.

It is possible - just possible - there may just be a chance - that the brand new administration at County Hall might be able to find some efficiency savings somewhere.

The copy of Derbyshire County Council Insight from which the above extracts are taken was headed 'March 2009', ran to 24 tabloid-sized pages of newsprint and ink and had a self-ordered print run of 330,000.

For more DCC adventures see also:

http://highpeaktransparency.blogspot.com/2009/06/fall-of-rotten-council.html

http://highpeaktransparency.blogspot.com/2009/05/other-cost-of-school-milk.html

The Village Green Claim Scam

2009-06-16T21:31:00.056+01:00

The 'village green claim' scam is finally being properly exposed.

Amazing as it may seem, someone who doesn't own a property can claim that, because they led some dog or other onto it for a whoopsie, they have 'rights' over that land. As a result, they can effectively deprive the landowner of it.

The cuddly name for the dog defecation area in question, the spurious label used in order to stop development, is 'town or village green'.

To take the most prominent local example, this was how the new High Peak Courthouse was finally halted.

It has been possible for any random nimby to use this ploy ever since 1999. In that year a landmark case - very carefully selected in order to win one case on narrow grounds but by doing so establish a binding country-wide legal precedent - was brought. The location chosen was Sunningwell in Oxfordshire.

This one perverse decison opened the national floodgates for these modern, false 'village greens'. We are now at the tenth anniversary.

Labour MP Tom Levitt gave a tremendous performance on this subject, in Parliament on 25 March 2008: "Someone who once flew a kite or walked a dog there - albeit while trespassing - puts in a town green application..." The result is that yet another socially valuable development is stopped. Valuable employment opportunities are also cynically thwarted using the village green scam.

Conservative councillors Tony Ashton, Linda Baldry and Emily Thrane (all High Peak) have now joined in. These prominent councillors have made an articulate plea to government to end the current abuse of this originally well-intentioned, but very naive, legislation.

The lobbying letters that MPs and councillors receive against new homes being built are from existing well housed residents. Their 'views' over somebody else's land are to be treated as sacrosanct, as if they own it rather than somebody else. They are happy to live in a house, but don't want homes for others.

This articulate few - always opposed to something being done near where they happen to live - are very careful to use emotional buzz-words. These include 'save' and 'campaign' and 'protect' and so on.

They are also expert at dog-whistle politics. This is where words like 'property developer' are used in the local press as boo-words, to try to build up a head of steam against new homes or employment or community facilities.

But the people - often the working poor - in desperate need of homes and other facilities, and who would benefit from social housing or new job opportunities, are not in a position to write to their MP or attend planning committees or 'campaign meetings'.

The new government in 2010 - of whatever colour - should put an end to this cynical, shameful travesty of the traditional village green of England. That is, if the present government will not do it.
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Acronym corner:

'Nimby' is quite well-known when applied to unreasonable opposition to nearby proposed developments, standing for 'not in my back yard'.

Less well-known is that the crack squads from the local middle-class nimby ranks, the people hiding behind Keep High Peak Green and so on, are 'Bananas'. This stands for 'build absolutely nothing anywhere near anyone'.

Excellent new book The Village Green Preservation Society, dealing with this subject in an informative, entertaining and occasionally hilarious way, out shortly.

Fear and Loathing in New Mills

2009-06-12T16:19:00.073+01:00

Lynne Cardwell (above, right) is a Labour activist. She is one of the more prominent victims of Labour Party mis-management in the area.

Tom Levitt MP, in his Buxton Advertiser column (11 June), speaks about Lynne. He unconsciously revealed how decent, hard-working Labour supporters like Lynne have been badly let down.

In New Mills a corrupt, dishonest Labour administration was in the town hall for years. A few factual examples from their track record in this respect:

- their electoral fraud, after the town referendum was called over the courthouse and they stopped it from taking place;

- they defrauded a High Peak resident by engineering a spurious claim that his property was a 'village green';

- for years they had a local postman bragging in the press and elsewhere that he was 'Leader of the Town Council', even though no such public office exists nor has ever existed;

- they mindlessly opposed and obstructed beneficial developments put forward by ordinary people outside their clique, meanwhile hypocritically pushing their pet scheme, Sir Martin Doughty's grandiose courthouse development, as far as it would go;

- they flouted planning legislation by organising a garish modern 'youth shelter' to go up in the grounds of a listed building, in a conservation area, and in green belt - but all with no planning permission being applied for;

- they promoted the dismal act of trespassing as something to be 'celebrated';

... and so on and so on.

The list in New Mills is surprisingly long, considering just how small the town is.

Oblivious to all the damage caused by their own politicians running the town hall, when pronouncing upon the recent election results Labour's Tom Levitt MP dismissively claims that 'Lynne Cardwell... lost to a second rate sitting councillor'.

As the above list shows, the prominent local Labour politicians in fact treated the public with utter contempt. This corrupt, dishonest behaviour has now been definitively pronounced upon by the local people whose trust they abused for so long.

Firstly, Labour managed barely half the votes of the elected Liberal Democrat councillor that Mr Levitt refers to (2009).

Secondly, in the popular vote for the last town council elections (2007), from a position of complete control Labour were beaten 12-0. They were lucky to get nil.

Mayorzilla returns - Chairzilla!

2009-06-12T15:59:00.004+01:00

Cllr Robin Baldry (right) has been anointed as Chairman of Derbyshire County Council and should be confirmed on 17 June.

Cllr George Wharmby, also in the picture, is to be vice-chairman. This completes the new er, 'heavyweight' line-up.

In the event High Peak Transparency gets complaints of weight-ism, size-ism, or just the usual ism-ism in general, please note the further past the date of posting (12 June 2009) you are reading this, the more it shows that local politicians have not all had that rumoured sense of humour by-pass.

Mayor trivia enthusiasts: for one of the best mayoral photographs ever taken anywhere, see:
http://highpeaktransparency.blogspot.com/2009/05/mayorzilla-departs.html

'That money was just resting in my account' - Father Ted

2009-06-11T08:40:00.064+01:00

Lancelot Edgar Dowson is a former Labour mayor of High Peak and Labour Party councillor. At the time of writing, he is a town councillor in New Mills.

Since 2007 Cllr Dowson has professed 'independence' as a politician. However, he was seen delivering party leaflets in the recent local election.

In the Glossop Chronicle of 11 June 2009, Cllr Dowson shares the following heartwarming story:

"Like many people I have watched the ongoing saga of the exposure regarding MPs' expenses with amazement, disgust and a growing anger.

"They expect to be allowed to get away with it by simply repaying the amounts that they claimed, a process that would not be acceptable for the rest of us..."

'Like many people' indeed. Like many people who do not know this particular politician and who would take his statements at face value. But there is a history of facts concerning Cllr Dowson, helpful in assessing where reality ends and Lanceworld takes over.

For example, let us examine the events of 11 July 2006. On that day Cllr Dowson went into the town hall in New Mills. This was when it was under Labour Party control and had been for many years. Cllr Dowson's personal friend - Labour's Ian Huddlestone - was claiming to be 'Leader' there. This is in spite of the fact that no such position exists in town and parish council law.
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On 11 July 2006 Labour Cllr Dowson cleaned out the chairman and mayor's expenses allowance fund. The town clerk obtained a receipt from Cllr Dowson for the money. A copy of this document has been obtained under Freedom of Information legislation.

Move on a few months. Remembrance Sunday, 12 November 2006. For countless years, New Mills mayors have laid a wreath, paid for from the mayor's allowance. This year, panic. No money in the fund for a wreath, the account has been cleaned out by Labour Councillor Dowson. Some other taxpayers' money was found, from a different account, to cover up.

In a statement to the police* Lancelot Edgar Dowson said: 'I repaid the money to the town council on 6 December 2006'.

* made on 31 July 2008

Trust, Competence, Or Just Electrical Equipment For Use On The Hair?

2009-06-07T10:47:00.007+01:00

When someone on Tom Levitt MP's staff tried to get money for a poppy wreath, it was from taxpayers. The same goes for Tom's hairdryer, or perhaps that should be whoever in Tom's office wanted a hairdryer paid for by the taxpayers.

MPs, and the staff they employ, are supposed to be trustworthy and competent.

Careful examination of any official photograph of Tom Levitt MP will show why taxpayer funding of the hairdryer needs of Mr Levitt - or whoever it was who put the claim in - is an embarrassing question. Is this spurious claim a matter of trust or of competence?

As Michael Howard memorably used to put it, 'peepil want answers'.

Those unfamiliar with Tom Levitt MP's look can see it here:

http://highpeaktransparency.blogspot.com/2009/05/outrageous-expenses-competition-closed.html

The Right Honourable James Purnell, MP

2009-06-06T23:27:00.043+01:00

The real, private, views of several local MPs on one important subject have not been published.

The topic is whether Prime Minister Gordon Brown is an asset or a downright hazard to their chances of holding on to their seats at the general election.

Four local Labour MPs are shown in the photograph (top left) that was concocted, sorry given out to factual news outlets, in September 2007. The image depicts them standing in front of construction works at Tameside Hospital.

The connection between all these photographs, each of which contains the image of James Purnell MP, is that James Purnell MP wasn't there on any of the occasions.

All four MPs knew that fact in respect of the Tameside Hospital image. It didn't stop them taking part in this casually arrogant deception of the public.

As well as Mr Purnell, the other local MPs are David Hayes (Labour), Andrew Gwynne (Labour), and Tom Levitt (Labour).

The Labour Party winning the next election? It's not revealing any political secrets to say that we've entered 'snowball in hell' territory with this one.

The odd one out, in respect of letting their views known about the Prime Minister, is Mr Purnell. After giving a refreshingly frank assessment, he then resigned from the government in a rare display - for a politician of any party - of courage and honesty.

Fall of Rotten Council

2009-06-05T19:27:00.032+01:00

Friends of democracy have cause to cheer this evening, with news of the fall of the Labour gang that has been running Derbyshire County Council since 1981.

1981 - how long ago that is. Adam Ant and his luxuriant head of hair ruled the charts, Charles and Di were happy newlyweds, coal miners had jobs for life, Sierra and Metro were radical cutting-edge car designs, and bus routes and trains were organised in a generally rational way.

Now, for the first time in 28 years, the Lubianka-like County Hall building is home to a new administration. Hopefully, proper open, honest and accountable governance may gradually start to appear.

The self-serving and extensive 'jobs for the boys' culture may now be curtailed in this new period. There is no way it can be as bad in the future as it was under the rotten tenures of long term political leaders Doughty and Bookbinder.

The fraternal trips to North Korea, the disastrous court case against Times Newspapers, the closing of a vital link road being trumpeted as a 'claim to fame', the pension scandal, the banning of the most popular weekly Education Supplement from appearing in Council-run libaries, the Black Sea resort acquisition to enable holidays for selectively chosen council apparatchiks... these and many more adventures all unwittingly paid for by the ratepayers of Derbyshire.

For once, the description Hard Labour is an accurate protrayal, as set out by the local Liberal Democrats and Conservatives. Twenty eight years? You often don't get that for murder these days.

Notional Burglars Face Notional Crackdown

2009-06-04T18:59:00.015+01:00

The double-speak of those in power has scaled new heights.

The latest example is the introduction of the concept of 'notionality' to avoid the politically inconvenient word 'capping' where public services are concerned.

In May, Local Government Minister John Healey imposed what he called a notional budget cut on Derbyshire Police.

The 'notional' cut from Whitehall is £1.6 million and in real life this will be used to cap what Derbyshire Police can spend to protect the community. Mr Healey did not seem to notice that serving police officers are not notional.

The government did not reveal there was any spending cap - sorry, 'notional budget adjustment' - until after the Police Authority and Chief Constable Mick Creedon had gone through all the work of setting the budget.

The Man from the Ministry did not indicate whether the citizens of High Peak who suffer the cuts are notional or real.

The Other Cost Of School Milk

2009-06-03T16:33:00.004+01:00

'Do as we say, not as we do'.

The two-facedness of County Hall bureaucrats when they talk about the environment is in danger of being exposed again.

This time it's their treatment of local dairy farmers that puts County Hall's attitude in the spotlight.

In public they lecture us on the environment: 'reduce packaging', 'save energy', 'make fewer car journeys' are just some of the exhortations to the public on the Derbyshire County Council website.

In private they look to change the milk contracts, losing locally-sourced fresh produce. This would mean lorries thundering around this country and others importing milk - a very heavy commodity - into the High Peak by road transport from overseas.

A simple environmental Food Miles toll should be factored into the calculations where large public supply contracts for food are being awarded.

The Lord, the Tax Haven, the Campaign Funds and the High Peak Conservatives

2009-06-03T16:32:00.049+01:00

Conservative central office has heavily targeted High Peak as a marginal seat where its strategists think concentration of resources should pay dividends.

Lord Ashcroft, the Conservative deputy chairman, is using his fortune to finance candidates in marginal seats. Transparency subscribers will have noticed how slick their local campaign is. 'No expense spared' is the sublimal message coming over from the literature and the personalised mail shots.

The other parties trying to take part in our local democracy are getting badly left behind in money terms.

On the 2 June 2009 edition of BBC's Newsnight, one simple question was put to former leader William Hague on behalf of all people with an interest in the Conservative Party and where its local election money is coming from.

What follows is the transcript of how the interview started, to give a taste as to how straight the answer was.

Paxman: 'Your deputy chairman, Lord Ashcroft - the man whose peerage you lobbied for, saying he would become resident in Britain for tax purposes - can you just tell us, is he resident in Britain for tax purposes now?'

Hague: 'I've no reason to think that he's not complied with the commitments that he gave.'

Paxman: 'That is not the same as an assurance that he is.'

Hague: 'Well it is the truth as I know it...'

Paxman: 'Have you asked him?'

Hague: '...absolutely no reason to think that he hasn't...'

Paxman: 'Have you asked him?'

Hague: '...complied with the assurances that he gave...'

Paxman: 'Have you asked him?'

Hague: '...and whenever I've discussed it with him I've... that is the conclusion I've come to.'

Paxman: 'Have you asked him directly?'

Hague: 'Yes, I have discussed it with him and I've no reason...'

Paxman: 'Have you asked him?'

Hague: '...to think that he hasn't complied...'

Paxman: 'Did you say to him, "Are you resident in Britain for tax purposes?"'

Hague: 'I said to him, at the time...'

Paxman: 'Now?'
.
Hague: '...that of course I expected him to fulfil his commitments...'
.
Paxman: 'Yes. Have you asked him?'

Hague: 'I have no reason to think to think that he hasn't..."

And so on...

The full interview is available through the link at the bottom of this article or by going to the Newsnight pages on the BBC website.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8080379.stm

Lies, Damn Lies, and Borough Tax Statistics

2009-06-01T20:04:00.029+01:00

Someone high up in High Peak Borough Council is not being straight with the poor people in the area who they demand money from.

Calculations printed on the council tax demand are being manipulated. The purpose of the manipulation is to get a political message across, favourable to the local Conservative party and those it wants to be seen supporting.

In essence, the issue that has blown up is the politicising of the local tax, its measurement and its collection.

Transparency subscribers with longer memories will recall it was this same subject that was the end of Margaret Thatcher. At that time the collection of local tax became known as 'Poll Tax'. For almost a century previously in local government it had been called simply 'the rates'.

If one gets out this year's Council Tax bill and last year's, and places them side by side, the manipulation of the presentation of the figures becomes apparent.

The High Peak Council Tax bill is broken down into four principal headings, universal to every household: Derbyshire County Council; High Peak Borough Council; Derbyshire Police; Derbyshire Fire Authority. On some bills there is also a smaller figure for a parish, for those who happen to live in one. Each of the headings has an amount of money next to it, demanded from the council tax payer.

Look at last year's bill. The above is all there is. The bill deals with money and is otherwise blank. No message from on high.

The first issue over manipulation arises if you compare it with this year's bill. This year, someone composed and wrote an 'Efficiency Message' at the bottom. And strangely enough, it selectively chooses statistics that present the Conservative-controlled authority (HPBC) in a good light, and the Labour-controlled authority (DCC) in a bad light.

The other sinister feature is that the Police have been selectively left out of 'Efficiency Message'. If Derbyshire Police figures were included then - calculated the way the Conservatives have done it - their statistic would not look flattering. This does not suit the local Conservatives' agenda, so instead of being honest and putting all of the four headings in the 'Efficiency Message', or alternatively being honest and leaving out all of the four headings and having no 'Efficiency Message', they handled it differently. In a less than transparent way.

The two manipulations, set out above, find the local Conservatives exposed as trying on the oldest political trick in the book.

Incidentally, it was a Tory prime minister* who coined the expression 'There are lies, damn lies, and statistics'.

* Benjamin Disraeli 1804 - 1881

Expenses Scandal Latest

2009-05-31T00:07:00.004+01:00

In 2006/7 our MP, Tom Levitt, claimed £19.99 from taxpayers for a hair dryer.

As Jeremy Paxman might have said, 'what was it bought for, some kind of ornament?'

Dirty Tricks

2009-05-28T12:01:00.011+01:00

An unsavoury detail has emerged - or rather been dragged from its bed blinking in the sunlight - from the time of the Councillors Gadd recent shift between political parties.

Councillors Jacqui and Mark Gadd gained seats on behalf of the Liberal Democrats at the local elections but then switched to the Conservative Party.

Within the local LibDem party, the ballot selecting the 2009 Derbyshire County Council candidate was held at the time the Councillors Gadd had secretly decided to defect.

In the full knowledge they were leaving the party for the Conservatives - but not revealing their planned defection to their colleagues - the Councillors Gadd cast votes in order to affect the internal result of the LibDem County Councillor selection.

Given all of the circumstances, the obvious and honourable thing would have been to abstain.

Councillor Jacqui Gadd has now come forward as the Conservative candidate for the same seat.

The Disappearing Act

2009-05-28T12:00:00.016+01:00

One High Peak councillor's name has recently become notable by its absence from the letters pages of the local papers.

When Labour politician Sir Martin Doughty was around, a sharp letter to the press appearing over the name of Councillor Ian Huddlestone - in real life a postman - would always adorn any contribution from Sir Martin. Always dealing with the same issue although usually making nastier points, always with an identical writing style, invariably appearing right next to each other on the page, this spooky 'dual letter' phenomenon was downright uncanny.

But there has been no sighting of any published letter bearing the name 'Ian Huddlestone' for many months. Likewise, the formal business of High Peak Borough Council has been relatively untroubled by mentions of the H-Man, who claims expenses and supposedly represents New Mills East there for Labour.

Come on Councillor Huddlestone. You can deliver the letters: isn't it time you started 'writing' them again?

The Way Of The Leader

2009-05-28T11:53:00.020+01:00

Judging from his latest statement Councillor Tony Ashton, Leader of the Borough Council, seems to be going the way of Kevin Keegan, who cracked up under the pressure of the workplace.

Both are decent men. But in the Buxton Advertiser of 28 May, Cllr Ashton's ominous closing shot was that "Councillor Stevens leaves me with no choice but to take the matter further".

The Leader is displaying a hysterical over-reaction to perfectly reasonable comments, made in public and in a free country.

It is not the first time that Cllr Ashton has issued threats along these lines. Town and parish clerks were likewise subject to an intimidation attempt following their recent letter in the press - the free press, Cllr Ashton should note - pointing out that their councillors were not to be ordered about.

Leek Inquiry

2009-05-27T17:36:00.021+01:00

The secret minutes of the Cabinet meeting held at County Hall in Matlock on 21 April make interesting reading.

The subject - dealt with in the confidential part of the meeting - was the transfer to Derbyshire County Council of Staffordshire Moorlands' property business and 'management facilities'.

The views of four councils all had to be represented, two of which - Moorlands and Staffs County - have nothing to do with Derbyshire.

The Moorlands Borough Council, based at Leek in Staffordshire, is considering outsourcing some services to a larger council. Fair enough. The mandarins at Staffordshire County would have been waiting for a call.

But Moorlands threw them a baffling curve. Under the label of 'being innovative', it is Derbyshire that's going to handle these, and many more, Staffordshire services!

Has Staffordshire County Council suddenly ceased to exist?

High Peak Courthouse - Latest Casualty

2009-05-27T15:33:00.057+01:00

The multinational company behind the courthouse that was about to be built in New Mills - before a village green application was put in on the site - has gone bust.

Babcock & Brown has gone into administration and any new High Peak PFI - 'Public Finance Initiative' - wheezes with its name attached are now officially pining for the fjords.

The company specialised in seeking out various opportunities for public infrastructure and development works.

Sir Martin Doughty, the Labour politician who passed away a few weeks ago, would have been disappointed. He embraced PFI nonsense with the same ardour as the City of London types who invented the idea.

Companies House records reveal that, at the time of key decisions about which town in High Peak might reap the 'benefits' of a shiny new Courthouse, Sir Martin from New Mills was a director of Public Private Partnerships Programme Ltd. This was in addition to being the County Councillor for New Mills and Leader at Derbyshire County Council, the authority holding the purse-strings for various public infrastructure and development works in the county.

Local people can of course assume that, in all selection processes for the choice of which High Peak town gets the new Courthouse, quiet and out-of-the-way New Mills will be considered on its merits.

The Karen Carpenter Council

2009-05-26T15:42:00.024+01:00

Just like Karen Carpenter, High Peak Borough Council seems to be slowly disappearing.

A merger is taking place by stealth and with no-one being asked. Staffordshire Moorlands Council is swallowing up its High Peak neighbour.

When were the High Peak's electors and council tax payers consulted about this freakish scheme? There are two key issues:

1) Why will the politicians involved not ask the High Peak residents - who are affected daily by this merger - whether they want it or not?

2) If one or other political group wants to streamline services and make economies - a most laudable object - there are at least two much better ways forward:

Carefully design and propose a Unitary council, then put it forward to the voters for their verdict.

Alternatively, keep all outsourcing within the existing local government County Council framework, where things stay politically accountable and can be managed more efficiently.

If administrative economy floats your boat, either of the above ways forward are much more straightforward, accountable and transparent than the messy experiment that is currently developing.

The people responsible, who have good intentions in what they are attempting, are putting a lot of people's energies, and council tax resources, into a disaster waiting to happen.

MP Urges Honesty

2009-05-26T15:12:00.011+01:00

"The once proud Daily Telegraph has connived with criminals at the lowest levels of cheque book journalism." Tom Levitt, 14 May 2009 in the column he writes for the local newspapers.

"Parliament has lost people's trust and we must win it back." Tom Levitt MP, 21 May 2009.

When is a Mayor not a Mayor?

2009-05-26T11:59:00.024+01:00

Answer: when it's Councillor Lancelot Edgar Dowson

The first item of business on the agenda of New Mills Town Council's 2009 annual meeting was to choose the town's mayor.

Before the meeting, in addition to wearing his customary leather number, Lancelot was seen carrying a suit jacket into the town hall over his arm.

Onlookers were puzzled.

But the mystery was soon solved. Lancelot had got it into his head that he was to be the new mayor. He wanted to look smart when the chain was ceremoniously placed over the dignified head and the photographs were taken. Hence the suit was getting an airing.

But he'd spent much of the time since the 2007 local elections annoying many of the town councillors. He'd filed nonsensical complaints about councillors to the standards people, wasted valuable police time with a spurious and malicious complaint about a member of the public, pretended that the previous administration was not corrupt and dishonest, talked on practically every subject that was brought up at council meetings, and generally done the complete opposite of being genuine and winning friends and influencing people.

Lancelot had been so busy - with his seemingly permanent activity of showing-off to an audience - that he was blissfully unaware his personal behaviour meant he'd completely lost the support of many members of the council. So as he prepared to stand up to receive the honour, he was astounded to find the mayoral chain was to adorn the broad shoulders of another, nicer and more genuine candidate: Kevin 'Huggy' Hawley.

The shock was the first thing in living memory ever to render Councillor Lancelot Edgar Dowson speechless during a town council meeting. 'More of this please' say a few councillors who would like the meetings to end at a sensible time.

Face Redder Than The Poppies

2009-05-26T11:36:00.050+01:00

It seems that when he wasn't promoting the sad perversity of trespassing around on other people's property - yes, that is Labour Party big hitter David Miliband in the publicity shot - our local MP has found time to sample other dismal misdemeanors.

If Tom Levitt MP has any shred of decency, he will publish a full, unreserved apology for the remembrance day disgrace.

High Peak Transparency will turn to other surprising 'expenses' at a future date. Meanwhile, the Sunday Telegraph of 24 May 2009 gave Mr Levitt the rare distinction of a mention by name in its lead editorial. And not in a good way.

Editor's note: Since this article was written a member of Mr Levitt's staff has come forward and stated they submitted the money claim for the poppy wreath, and that Mr Levitt expressed surprise when he learned this claim had gone in.

Swear Word Heard At Footy Match Shock

2009-05-26T11:34:00.009+01:00

Independent councillor Ivan Bell has inadvertantly caused upset again.

Glossop North End's amazing cup run ended up with some swearing as a part of the Wembley trip. This of course is shocking. No players, or supporters of Liverpool or Manchester United for example, or touchline coaches waving their arms around, or Scots, or even northern people in general, have ever used any bad language in the whole 150-year history of football.

Ivan has now run off an alternative DVD of the grand day out and both the X-rated version and the beeped version are on sale side-by-side.

The Mayorzilla Departs

2009-05-26T11:03:00.011+01:00

The mayor who occupied the most column inches, and seized the most photo-opportunities, in the whole history of the High Peak was surely Robin Baldry.

Political insiders have noted that Robin was a noisy critic of High Peak Borough Council until May 2008 when his loyalty and silence, obviously entirely co-incidentally, was bought around the time of the mayoral appointment.

So farewell Robin.

The mayoral year following Robin's service runs from May 2009 to May 2010. This is the year in which a general election will be held.

Cllr Tony Bingham, who will serve High Peak for 2009-10, may be a mayor with a message. No more party deals behind closed doors, no family nepotism, and so on. This is surely what he will have told his son, Andrew.

Andrew Bingham is the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for er... High Peak

Gimme Shelter. Or the lesser-known 'Don't Gimme Shelter'

2009-04-30T08:16:00.001+01:00

You wouldn’t think that plonking down an ultra-modern plastic and metal 'Youth Shelter' in the middle of a conservation area, in the Green Belt, and within the grounds of a sensitive Grade 2 listed building would be at all controversial would you?

No. Neither would the local Labour Party in New Mills, who decided to put one there.

If they had got their way, the new Youth Shelter, presumably including the 'youths' indicated by the name, would by now have taken pride of place in the grounds of local High Lea Hall.

High Peak Transparency can reveal that the laws protecting the environment, including the local Green Belt, were to be flouted by New Mills Labour. Conservation Area walls were to be knocked down and structures unlawfully altered to accommodate their new youth shelter scheme in this most inappropriate of places. And the legal protection given to the setting by its Grade 2 Listing might as well not have existed.

No application for planning permission was to be bothered with by the then Labour-run town council in New Mills.

But let a householder even think of changing some part of their private home and the council are down on them like a ton of bricks.